Sterek: The Attraction
by LTheGreat
Summary: This story is Part 1 of Stiles and Derek falling in love with each other. This, like my other Teen Wolf fanfiction, picks up where season 2 ends. The rest of the cast, as well as new characters, will be involved as the story progresses.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, here goes my attempt at a Sterek fanfiction. Let me know what you think. I know this story starts out slow, but it will get better. Enjoy._

_I don't own Teen Wolf. _

Chapter 1

Stiles paced his bedroom floor. Scott was at home, having dinner with his mother. She wanted to talk to him about the "werewolf" aspect of his life that he had kept from her. Stiles understood, but he had nothing to do and he couldn't sit still.

He paced around his bed two more times before he decided to go for a ride. He ran down the stairs. "I'll be back later, dad!" He yelled as he exited the house before he father had the chance to say a word.

He got into his jeep and turned the ignition on. He reversed out and took off. Two blocks down from his home, he thought of where to go. It was 7 o'clock and the sun was beginning to set. "Where can I go?" He asked himself out loud.

He looked at the stores and shops he drove by; a book store, a subway, and a coffee shop. Reading was out of the question. His mind couldn't focus. Caffeine was completely out of the question. It would only make matters worse.

He decided subway was the best of the three. Plus his stomach growled at the thought of ordering an Italian B.M.T. foot long. He pulled into a parking spot and turned off the engine. He searched his pockets for his wallet. He slid his hand into his left back pocket only to find that it was empty.

An image of his wallet sitting on his dresser flashed in his head. "Crap!" He said as he let his head fall on the steering wheel, hitting the car horn. The horn frightened him, causing him to jump back in his seat. He placed his hand over his over-accelerated heart. He looked around, no one heard it.

When his heart beat lowered to a normal rate, he put the key back in the ignition and started it. As he shifted the gear into reserve, a tall, brute looking man caught his eye. _Derek._ They were buddies or at least in his desperate moment, he hoped they were.

He turned off the engine and exited his jeep. He quickly walked to the entrance as casual as he could, which was horrible obvious. He walked in and looked to his left where Derek sat oddly by himself. He was surprised that Derek was actually eating subway and in public. He always imagined Derek would be eating alone, in a corner of his burn down house in the woods.

He quickly walked over to Derek as he was meant to meet him here. "Hey, Derek," he said as he patted him on the back of his muscular shoulder and sat down across the table from him.

Derek was in mid-bite when Stiles patted him. He moved his eyes forward.

Derek didn't speak; he just chewed his food and swallowed it. Stiles spoke, "strange seeing you here." He smiled awkwardly. His stomach growled. "I was wondering if you could be the gentleman"-he placed his hand back on Derek's shoulder-"hmm." The glare Derek gave him caused him to pause. He removed his hand. "I was wondering if you could lend me like ten bucks so I can get something to eat."

Derek took another bite, chewed it, and then swallowed it.

"Remember, I saved your life like twice, maybe more times. Consider the loan a nice way of thanking me." Stiles grinned.

Derek put down his sub sandwich and just stared at Stiles for a moment. His stare made Stiles uncomfortable and that satisfied him. The satisfaction made the corner of his lips slightly curve upward.

He reached forward for his sprite. His quick moment made Stiles flinch. He took a sip, grinning. "Remember when you used me to persuade that gay guy?"

"Yeah, but I saved you from Jackson when he was all on killer mode," Stiles stated. "Remember when we took a swim." He paused, thinking about what he had said. His sentence sounded sexual.

"Leave me be, Stiles," Derek said, using his intense, unbreakable stare.

Stiles raised his hands in the air and slowly got up from the chair. "Alright, alright. I'm going." He walked away from him, feeling slightly disabled.

As Stiles reached the door, Derek spoke again, "Stiles."

Stiles looked in his direction. Derek held up a ten dollar bill. Stiles smiled and ran back to Derek. "Thanks, man." He grabbed the ten dollar bill and ran to the counter and quickly placed his order. After he filled his cup up with coca cola, picked out some lays chips, and got his sandwich, he returned to the table, sitting in front of Derek. "Thanks, again." He opened the wrapping and took a big bite of his foot long.

Derek stared at him, wondering why Stiles was still here. "I gave you money in hopes that you'd let me finish my food in peace."

Stiles paused, mouth open and full of food. Derek wanted to eat alone and Stiles found himself not wanting to. He pouted his lips, trying to be adorable.

Derek growled. "Fine, I'll leave then." He picked up the remainder of his food, walked over to the trash can next to the entrance, and tossed everything in it. He exited.

Stiles quickly shoved everything back into the bag, grabbed his drink, and followed Derek out. He, surprisingly, caught up to him rather quickly. "Come on, where are you going?"

Derek abruptly turned around, startling Stiles, wiping away the very little color he had on his face. "When and where did we become friends?" He asked, yelling and throwing his arms in the air.

Stiles stood still as he tried to think of something to say. His thoughts stumbled on each other, rendering him silent. After waiting a few minutes, he lowered his shoulders in defeat and walked back to his jeep. "I just wanted some company," he mumbled, feeling completely dumped.

Stiles opened the driver's door.

"Stiles," Derek said despite his better judgment. He rolled his eyes, irritated with himself. "Wait. I guess…we can hang out."

Stiles whipped his head around and smiled. "Where do you want to hang out?" He looked at his hand, holding his food. "Before we do anything, can I eat my food first?"

"Eat quick," Derek ordered.

Stiles sat into his jeep and began eating the rest of his food. Derek stood several feet away from him in the open. Mouth filled with chips and a giant bite from his sandwich, he said to Derek, "you can sit in the passenger seat."

Derek didn't catch a single word Stiles said.

Stiles pointed to the passenger seat. Derek moved closer to Stiles' jeep, but he refused to get in. Stiles quickly finished his food and turned on the car. "Get inside." He looked around the small parking lot. Derek's car wasn't here. Derek must have walked here. "You don't have your car."

Derek's eyes flashed red. The color of the alpha. He came here the same way he was planning to leave, with his fast wolf speed.

Slowly raindrops started to fall from the sky. They started off little then in moments, they grew in size. Derek quickly ran around Stiles' jeep and got in. Stiles just looked at Derek as he sat awkwardly in the passenger seat, where he has sat many times before. "What?" Derek shouted.

Stiles jumped. "Nothing. I…just thought wolves were canines." Derek gave him a puzzled look. "You ran in here like a scared little cat, afraid to get wet."

Derek thought about how foolish he looked. He did the only thing that would make Stiles drop it and never bring it up again. He growled.

Stiles pushed himself up against the door. "Okay, okay. Forget what I said." He held up his pale colored hands like they were his white flag.

"Drive north," Derek ordered.

Stiles turned on the engine and drove north. They were about twenty minutes out of town. The drive, so far, was silent and it was getting under Stiles' skin. Derek sat calmly in the passenger seat, staring up at the crescent moon. "So what's new?" Stiles asked, trying to make conversation.

"Just shut up and drive," Derek said roughly as he continued to stare out the window.

Stiles did just that. He drove for another fifteen minutes until Derek said to stop. Stiles pulled over to the shoulder. Derek got out and started walking. "Hey where are you going?" Derek closed the door.

Stiles turned off the engine, grabbed the keys, and got out of his jeep. Stiles quickly, stumbling, followed behind Derek as he walked up a hill. "Derek, can you at least slow down." Derek ignored him and continued walking, zigzagging through the trees.

He finally caught up to Derek when they had reached the top of a mountain. He was breathing hard. "What are we doing here?"

Derek stared off the cliff, looking down on to Beacon Hills. "I come here to enjoy the silence." He voice was soft, well softer than usual. He sat down on a boulder.

Stiles walked over to him and looked at the view. It looked beautiful. "So do you come here often?" He asked, looking back at Derek.

"Don't get mushy on me," Derek said, using his usual rough, intimidating voice.

"Is it safe out here?" He asked. The town and the woods had been unsafe at one point whether it were by werewolves or a kanima and it was only a matter of time before something new surfaces from the slums.

"You're with the Alpha. I think you're as safe as you're going to get," Derek stated, matter-of-factly. His confidence pushed out, making Stiles nod his head, agreeing with him.

They just sat around for a while. Stiles just making conversation, but Derek would always shot him down. He sat and thought why he even bothered with Derek. He was at an all time low of desperation that he was here with a guy who was cold and distant. Why did he even agree to hang with him if he was just going to be an ass?

Stiles' phone went off. Scott was calling him. He answered the phone with excitement. "Hey man what's up?"

"Where are you? I thought you'd be home," Scott said.

"I went out." Stiles wasn't sure how to tell his friend that he was with Derek. Things were still rocking between the two of them, since Scott played Derek for an idiot. Now that he had remembered that part, he felt upset that Scott didn't tell him.

"With who?" Scott asked.

Stiles didn't want to answer. "I just went out." He changed the subject quickly. "So how was dinner with your mom?"

Scott laughed. "Nice dodge. Who are you with?" Stiles didn't answer him and that annoyed him. "Stiles, who?"

"I'm with Derek!" He yelled into the phone and then quickly ended the call.

Derek laughed, but his expression was still hard. Stiles didn't know if his laughing was a good thing or a bad one.

"Well I'm going to go. Do you need a ride?" He was cut off when Derek grabbed him and pushed him hard up against a tree. His back stung. He thought his bruises had fully healed. He thought wrong. "What the hell, man," He managed to get out.

Derek shh-ed him as he looked around. He had heard something.

As Derek focused on the sound or lack of, it hit Stiles that Derek's muscular body was pushed up against his frail boyish one. Their bodies together felt uneven and hard to him, like trying to make a puzzle piece fit in a space too small and yet, strangely comfortable.

His stomach began tingling in an unfamiliar way. He looked up at Derek, who was still looking around.

Derek's eyes turned red. He was protecting Stiles from whatever it was he heard. This was the first time Stiles had seen him this protective…of him. Yes, he had saved Stiles a few times, but he never showed a genuine worry for him.

"What do." Derek interrupted him, "Shh!" He pushed his body more into Stiles, smashing them together, making it hard for him to take a breath. The bark of the tree and the solid steel of Derek's muscles caused his body to stiffen with pain, reminding him how badly he was beaten.

"Stiles," Derek whispered, looking around the tree he had Stiles pushed up against. "When I say 'run,' I need to you run to your jeep and drive as fast as you can and as far as you can."

Stiles didn't answer, but he did hear what Derek said. The pain was too much for him to even speak, let alone breath. Derek looked at Stiles, finally seeing the pain he was in and moved an inch or two back. Stiles inhaled, letting himself lean on Derek's body for support. As he started to slip, Derek wrapped his arm around him, holding him up.

Somehow Derek's muscles didn't feel like solid steel to him, but a comfortable bed he didn't want to get up from. "Stiles." Derek let out a low growl. It snapped Stiles out of his daze. "Run, now!" Derek ordered him as if he were his beta.

As Stiles took off, Derek and he heard a loud howl. It was another werewolf Derek had heard. Stiles ran back to his jeep. He didn't run his fastest due to the pain Derek and the tree had caused and he still didn't have his breath on track.

He heard howls behind him. He looked over his shoulder. A tall dark object stood behind him. His heart rate shot up in terror. "Derek!" He screamed.

He tripped over a tree stump, falling fast and hard on his right shoulder. "Derek," he managed to mumble from the crippling pain surging through his frail body.


	2. Chapter 2

_Here goes Chapter 2. I am having trouble with Scott. I haven't figured out how to put him in the story, so I just threw him in. Leave a review with your thoughts. Enjoy!_

Chapter 2

Stiles rolled over on his back and looked up at the tall dark figure standing a few feet away from him. The figure's eyes flashed a glowing red. He, what Stiles assumed the gender of the figure, was an alpha, but Stiles wasn't sure if it was Derek. "Derek?" He mumbled.

The alpha growled loudly and Stiles instantly knew the man wasn't Derek. His body trembled in fear. The tremble movement caused his shoulder to ache. He started trying to crawl back, but with a pain surging from one shoulder and his left arm not being strong enough to carrying his weight, he didn't get far.

The alpha lifted his foot to take a step towards Stiles, but for whatever reason, he changed his mind and placed his foot back on the ground. Stiles felt a little relieved, but the thought that he was going to die kept bouncing around his brain.

Another thought, more of a question surfaced: _where the hell is Derek? _

Then almost as if he telepathically willed it; Derek leaped down from a tree fully wolfed out and eyes glaring red. He crouched down and leaped forward, tackling the alpha down. Stiles heard them struggle, howling and growling in the darkness.

_Run, _Derek's voice repeated in his head. Stiles slowly raised his weak body from the ground, holding his right arm close to his body. He started back to his jeep. He was exhausted and the energy he had left was slipping out his body quickly. Everything started spinning around him and his knees shook as he took a few more steps.

As he started to fall forward, a muscular arm wrapped around his waist. His heart raced, thinking it was the alpha. "Stiles, hang in there," Derek said as his warm breath caressed the nape of Stiles' neck; the hairs on his neck rose as his breath was taken away. He collapsed.

Derek secured Stiles in his arms before throwing him over his shoulder. Stiles grunted in his unconscious state. Derek took off.

Stiles dozed in and out to a ray of light flashing bright behind his closed eyes. He felt himself moving at a fast rate. He noticed that he wasn't hanging over Derek's shoulder, but lying down on a long seat. His body bounced an inch in the air, turning him to his right. He landed on his right shoulder. The impact caused pain to surge down his arm through nerves to his fingertips.

Stiles came out of unconsciousness, grunting. The ray of light continued flashing in his face. He opened his eyes to the roof of his jeep. The ray of light that flashed in his face was the street lights he passed. He sighed. He made it away from the alpha in the woods. _Derek!_

He rose from the back seat of his jeep, moving his right shoulder. Pain surged down his arm. He grunted at himself for forgetting he injured his shoulder. He winced, holding his arm close to his body. He looked at the driver's seat. Derek was driving them back.

"I'll try to avoid the potholes," Derek said in his usual intimidating tone, not apologizing. Stiles let out a simple "ha" as he leaned back on the seat, trying to rest. It was typical of Derek, never apologizing. Stiles thought if he hadn't pushed Derek to hang out with him, he never would have been in the woods when the alpha showed up or had to run, which led to him falling down on his shoulder. Even if it was Derek's fault, he didn't expect an apology.

Derek pulled into Stiles' driveway and turned the engine off. "Go inside and wash yourself before your father realizes anything." Derek knew how insane Stiles' father was when he went missing from the lacrosse championship game. Stiles refused to tell him father what exactly happened. If his father saw him now, it would raise more questions Stiles couldn't-wouldn't answer.

Stiles stared at him as he exited the jeep and walked around it. Derek opened the door. Stiles looked at him with vigilance. Though Derek was acting like a decent human being, Stiles wondered why the kindness now.

Stiles grabbed his hand and Derek pulled him out. Stiles was able to walk on his own and he did just that. "Stiles," Derek said as Stiles walked to his the front door of his house. Stiles turned around. Derek tossed him his keys and closed the door.

Stiles tried catching it with his right hand out of habit and failed. The keys hit the ground. He reached down with his left hand and picked them. "Thanks," he said, looking back at Derek.

He left without a bye or a sound.

Stiles took a deep breath and pulled the remains of his energy together and jog inside his house, heading straight upstairs to his room. He took out his coat, shoes, shirt, and pants and threw them in the hamper. The removal of his shirt was difficult, but he was able to do it without much pain. He knew then, his shoulder wasn't broken or fractured.

He grabbed some sweat pants and went into the bathroom down the hall from his room with only boxers and socks on.

He closed the door and locked it. He stood in front of the mirror and turned on the water faucet. He grabbed a hand towel that hung on the wall and soaked it with hot water. He washed the dirt off his hands, arms, and neck, doing gentle strokes, trying not to irritate his-already bruising-shoulder. The slightest touch caused him to wince a little, but nothing like when the pain surged down to his fingertips.

He knew tomorrow there'd be a large bruise, but again, it was just a bruise.

After his body was cleaned up, he moved on to his face. He looked into the mirror as he wiped away the dirt smudges from his cheek and jaw.

Once that was done, he stared at himself in the mirror, looking at his chest. It had large red spot that covered the right side from the fall, but no real pain. He placed his hand on his frail, pale, muscle-less chest and he traced the outline of the large red spot with his index finger. His mind trailed back to earlier when Derek's body and his were pushed up against each other. He wondered why did it feel comfortable and what was that unfamiliar feeling in his stomach. Or why his breath was taken away, but what puzzled him the most, why was it by Derek?

"Stiles," his father said, knocking on the bathroom door, bringing him back from his thoughts.

"Yeah." His voice was still a little shaken. He cleared his throat. "Yes, dad. I'm just getting ready to shower."

"Okay, I just wanted to let you know Scott dropped by looking for you," his father said.

"Yeah, yeah. I talk to him." Stiles turned on the water to the shower.

"Alright. Good night son." His father said before leaving Stiles to shower.

Stiles just sat there, shaking his leg as he stared at the floor. He continued analyzing his emotions, a failed attempt that was. Once the bathroom looked like a sauna, Stiles turned off the water. He grabbed a towel, soaked it a little, and threw it over his head. So if his father were to see him, he'd think Stiles actually showered. He smiled under the towel at his cleverness.

He returned to his room and got under the covers. Tomorrow he had school and had to face Scott. He sighed. _Scott is tomorrow's issue. _He closed his eyes and fell asleep in seconds.

Stiles felt cold water surrounding him, lifting his body, slowly drifting it along a calm current. He opened his eyes. He was naked in a body of water and at night. The moon's light beamed down on him. "Stiles," he heard a man whisper roughly into his ear. He felt two muscular arms wrap around his torso, pulling him close to a male, muscular, naked body without pulling him under water.

Stiles turned his body around, facing the man who whispered his name. It was Derek. He stared into Derek's green eyes with passion as Derek stared back into his with that same passion.

Derek placed his hand on the left side of Stiles' jaw and caressed Stiles' bottom lip with his thumb. He flashed him a sexual grin.

Stiles was rushed with excitement. He moved his eyes to Derek's lips and traced the outline of them with his eyes. The urge to feel them stretched him beneath the skin of his lips. Derek sucked in his bottom lip, bit it, and pulled it out from between his teeth. This restraint to hold back was running super thin. Derek ran the back of his fingers on Stiles' neck, sending a chill through his body. Unable to hold back any longer, Stiles turned his head a little to the right and moved in slowly, closing the space between them.

The alarm went off, waking up Stiles. He sat up, heart racing, breathing deeply and sweating. "What the hell?" He couldn't understand why he was dreaming about Derek. Why he felt the urge to kiss him in his dream. He swung his legs over the side of his bed. He felt his full erection.

He grabbed the-now dried-towel from last night and ran into the bathroom, covering his erection. He did the only thing he could think of to rid himself of his erection; he took a cold shower. "Oh my god, I'm gay!" He said loudly with his hands in the air as he stared down, panicking.

After another ten minutes in the cold shower, he got out, got dressed, and went to school. The drive consisted of Stiles replaying his dream in his head and questioning why he was dreaming about _Derek_? Why he was sexually aroused? And why Derek?

He parked his jeep in the parking lot and looked himself in the rearview mirror. "You're not gay. This was just…maybe an act for the lack of sexual release. Yeah, you just need to have more alone time."

"Who are you talking to?" Scott said, scaring him.

Stiles jumped in his seat, hitting his shoulder against the seat. He winced as pain coursed down his arm to his elbow. It didn't shoot down to his fingertips. He took it has a good sign. He was healing. "What the hell man?" Stiles unbuckled his seat beat and opened the door, pushing Scott back.

"So you're confused about your sexuality," Scott stated with a smile on his face. He heard him with his wolf hearing.

_Great! _He started walking to school building. Scott followed him.

"So why were you with Derek last night?" He asked.

Stiles stopped. "I…wasn't." He looked side to side, wondering if Scott heard his heart jump up.

"You're lying," Scott said.

"I was bored. You were busy. I ran into him at subway. We hung out," He said, trying to avoid the conversation.

"Why would you hang out with him alone? He's dangerous," Scott said, grabbing his right arm and pulled on it. Stiles winced. Scott saw his painful expression. "What happened? Did he hurt you?" Scott's eyes flashed amber.

Stiles hit his arm away. "First," he said, smacking Scott on the side of his head. "You're the one that betrayed him, not me. Second, dude, calm down." He looked around, making sure no one saw. "Your eyes are all wolfed out." Scott's eyes turned back to brown.

"What happened?" He asked again.

Stiles continued walking until he reached his locker. "Nothing. We came across another alpha."

Scott whispered, "another alpha." Scott leaned against the locked next to Stiles' and hit it with the back of his head. He hoped things would be peaceful for a while before something happened. "Why can't we have a moment of peace?" Scott asked aloud.

Stiles spoke, "I bruised my shoulder when I fell trying to run from the alpha, but I'm just fine." He was irritated at how Scott easily forgot that he hurt his arm.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Scott said.

Stiles looked at his friend. He couldn't stay mad at him. Scott was his best friend. Who else could he talk to? _Derek? _He laughed to himself. "Forget about it." Stiles moved on to a more productive subject. "So what are we going to do about this alpha?"

"Why do we have to do anything?" Scott asked.

"Because you're Batman and I'm Robin remember? And whenever something goes amiss, where there to solve the problem," Stiles said with a smile. Scott shook his head. "Oh come on," Stiles said, putting his arm around Scott's shoulder as they walked to their first class.

As the day went along without any supernatural disruption, Scott and Stiles discussed what their plan was to figure out whom the alpha was and what did he want in the classes they had together and in between classes. In the first half of the day, Stiles went over detail by detail how the night went down between Derek and him. Of course, he left out how he felt when he was smashed against the tree by Derek's body. He also made a mental note to leave out the dream and morning wood he got from the dream. He told him how Derek saved his life and took him home.

On their way to lunch, Scott told Stiles that they had to work with Derek on this one. He said the alpha went for Derek and it wasn't his concern, but since Stiles was with Derek last night and the alpha saw them together, there was a possibility the alpha would go after Stiles to get to Derek.

Scott had no other choice, but to try to work with Derek. Scott didn't admit to Stiles, but he was afraid of Derek taking out his rage on him. Derek and he fought once already and it was beat. If Derek bit him or claw him, the wound wouldn't heal fast like normal. He didn't think he could hide it from his mother, now that she knew what he was and the dangers he was and could potentially be in.

In between the moments of discussion when Stiles was alone, all he could think about was what he called "the contact" when their bodies touched and the dream. His overloaded mind made him fidgeted in his seat, not bothering with paying attention to the day's lessons. He stared down at his empty notebook page. Faint images from his dream flashed in his head. Derek's naked body and his floated in the water, rubbing against each other. His heart raced in an alarmingly rate that made him sweat.

He closed his eyes to visualize the image more clearly. It worked. The images did appear clearer as if he were dreaming them for the first time. Derek wrapping his arms around his body made a chill run up his back. He trembled in his seat and released a panting sound.

In an instant, it registered in his head that he made a sound. He opened his eyes slowly and quickly praying no one heard. He saw the entire class looking dead at him. His face flushed with heat and embarrassment. He knew his face was a burning, bright red. He lowered his head and hid it around his arms.

His teacher didn't say a word. He figured Stiles' embarrassment was enough punishment. It was; Stiles kept his head down the rest of class and when the class ended, he shot to the door.

He went straight to Scott's locker and found Scott talking to Isaac. So he decided to head over to his locker and switch out his books. Lydia approached him with a warming smile that made him melt. "Hey, Lydia," he said awkwardly.

"How are you, Stiles?" She asked. The embarrassment his suffered in class was still very fresh that her surprise visit didn't throw him off as usual. Since Jackson finally opened up to her, they've been dating. It was a definitely punch to his ego. He thought he was making progress.

"I'm dandy," he said with a forced smile.

"I noticed your right shoulder was looking sore." Her concern got under her skin. It made it hard for him to ignore her. "Are you okay?"

He lied, "yeah, I just fell…off of my bed." He closed his locker. "Nightmare."

"Okay, I was hoping it was nothing serious," she said as she grabbed his left arm gently, physically expressing her concern. Her touch made his heart rate race. She still gave him thrills, but they were overpowered by the thought of Derek. A thought he couldn't shake.

"Yeah, I'm good," he reassured her. "How is Allison?" She has completely separated herself from the group to get away from Scott, to mourn her mother's death, and to figure out who she was.

Lydia looked behind her from over her shoulder. "She's okay. Dealing is time consuming, but she's getting through it." Stiles followed Lydia's stare to Allison.

Allison glanced at them and forced a half hearted smile. She closed her locker and went on to her next class.

Lydia got Stiles' attention by speaking. "Hey I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie tonight." She asked.

He looked at her. "I thought…" He paused. His brain didn't process what she had asked him. "Won't Jackson get mad?" They were together after all.

She smiled. "He has plans to hang out with Danny. He said that he was acting like an ass to him and he wants to apologize." She let her hand slide down to his wrist, held it there for a minute, and let his wrist go. "So I thought we hang out. You've earned it." She flashed him her smile that always made him melt.

He awkwardly smiled back. It didn't have the same strong effect that it once had, but he agreed to hang with her. "What time would be good?" He asked.

She narrowed her eyes, thinking of a time. She twisted the tip of her hair around her index and middle fingers. "8 o'clock is good."

Stiles nodded. "8 o'clock is good," he repeated. That gave Scott and him time to visit Derek and try to get some answers.

Lydia flashed him another smile before she walked away. Stiles smiled at himself for a moment. He was hanging out with Lydia tonight. Though she was with Jackson, he wasn't going to give up on her if there was a chance they could be together.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: thanks everyone for the reviews, PM, and followings. I'm super glad you guys and girls are enjoying this story. I hope that I can continue to keep you interested. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

After school, Stiles met with Scott in the parking lot. Isaac was with him. In any other situation, Stiles would be rolling his eyes and feeling jealous of the friendship between _his _best friend and Isaac, but today it didn't matter. His mind fixated on Derek and his "date" with Lydia, but mainly Derek.

"I told Isaac he could ride with us," Scott said, smiling.

Stiles said as he walked passed them, "yeah, sure." He pulled out his keys from his pocket and unlocked his door. He quickly unlocked the passenger's. Isaac got in the back and Scott sat in the front. Stiles turned on the engine, reversed out of the parking spot, and drove off out of the school parking lot.

The drive over to Derek's burn down house, Scott and Isaac chatted about some girl they saw at lunch. Her name was Ruby Castillo. Stiles was able to picture her in his head from their detailed description. She had fair skin, a thin body frame, curly brunette hair that fell pass her shoulders, beautiful round brown eyes, and light pink lips. The more he thought about her, he was convince he had actually seen her.

He did find it strange how Scott talked about the girl Ruby like Allison didn't exist. Did he really get over her so quickly? Or was he just playing along with Isaac to not think about Allison?

Stiles zoned out their conversation and Derek popped in his head. His mind wandered to his dream. The feeling of having Derek's naked body pushed against his in a sexual embrace caused him to have a full erection. His face flushed. _God, I'm gay! _He yelled his head.

Then it hit him what if Scott or Isaac noticed it. That thought made sweat accumulate on his forehead. He began to panic, looking at the road, to Scott and to Isaac, in the rearview mirror, making sure they won't looking.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Scott asked, leaning forward, looking him in the eye. Stiles knew he heard his heart race.

He didn't answer right away. He thought to hide what he didn't want them to see. He placed his right arm on top of his erection, covering it. "Yes," he said, trying hard to cover that he wasn't. He knew they'd catch it.

"He's lying," Isaac said. Stiles glared at him through the rearview mirror. Isaac ignored his glare.

"For real, I'm fine." He actually was, now that they couldn't see what grew in his pants. "My mind was over thinking about what this new alpha would bring to us." When Scott leaned back and started talking to Isaac again, he leaned back and grinned, driving with his left hand. He was such a clever guy; he felt he deserved an award.

After his erection subsided and they arrived at Derek's home, they got out of his jeep. Stiles took his time, readjusting his junk before they, _he, _met with Derek.

Isaac let out a middle howl and a minute later, Derek, followed by his uncle Peter, walked out of the house. Peter stopped on the steps as Derek walked towards them in his usual I-am-bigger-and-better-than-you walk with his hands in his leather coat. They met halfway.

Stiles stood strong next Scott, but he kept his eyes on Peter. He couldn't find it in himself to look Derek in the eye. Everything he did, his face flushed. "What is it that you want to talk about?" Derek asked Scott. His anger towards Scott was obviously clear.

Stiles looked at Derek from the corner of his right eye. He saw Derek's jaw muscles were flexed and his green eyes stared at Scott in an intense gaze, he thought Scott's head was going to explode.

"I want to help you with this alpha," Scott answered.

"Just like you helped me with Gerard?" It was blatantly obvious Derek didn't want Scott's help.

"Look, I get why you're mad at me. I used you. I forced you to bite Gerard," Scott said. Derek's grinded his teeth together and curled his hands into fists. "I didn't have a choice. Gerard threatened me with my mom." The veins on Scott's neck bulged out.

"You still could have told me," Derek said not showing any compassion.

Scott became frustrated that he stepped up to Derek. "Dude, I don't even care if you like me or hate me. I only want to help because this alpha saw you with Stiles. He could attack him to get to you," he said, stating his reason for waiting to make an alliance.

Stiles finally looked Derek in the eye when he noticed Derek's face softened from its usual hard stared. Time slowed down as they gazed at each other. Stiles could see that protective side of Derek surface in his eyes. He knew then, before Derek even said a word, he was going to help.

Then Derek spoke what Stiles already knew. "Fine, but only this time. I can't trust you, Scott."

Scott nodded, understanding why Derek didn't trust him. His lips slightly curved upward because he was able to protect his friend. "I'll stay away, but if you find anything let me know."

"Yeah, sure. Isaac will keep guard duty with you and as soon as we find Erica and Boyd, they'll join in," Derek said, pushing down the side that wanted to protect Stiles, hiding it from everyone.

Scott started walking back to Stiles' jeep. Stiles stood still for a moment, staring at Derek as Derek stared back at him. It was like no one else was around. Or at least it seemed that way to Stiles.

Derek blinked his eyes once and turned around without saying anything to Stiles and that left him feeling sour.

Stiles exhaled and jogged his way to Scott, reaching his jeep. He got into his jeep and started the engine. As he drove off, he thought about what had just happened and what he was thinking about all day. He was losing his mind, thinking there was more between Derek and him. It was just lack of sexual release and nothing more.

He shook the dream and what he felt last night from his mind. Tonight he had a date with Lydia, at least that's what he kept telling himself it was, when he wasn't over analyzing his dream of Derek.

After the drive, he stopped and parked his jeep outside Scott's home. "What are you doing?" Scott asked.

"I plan to break into your house with you," Stiles said, sarcastically. Scott narrowed his eyes at him. "I have plans with Lydia tonight and I don't want you there."

"Yes, your ten year plan," Scott stated with a laugh. His face hardened. "I'll be joining." He opened the door, got out and said, "be at your house at 8 o'clock." Stiles knew he was eavesdropping in his conversation with Lydia.

"I hate you, right now," Stiles said. Scott laughed and closed the door. Stiles put the jeep in drive and floored it without saying another word to Scott.

Stiles went home and had dinner with his father. They talked about their day. Stiles mention-lied-about his right shoulder hitting the ground during his lacrosse practice. He figured if he mention it now, if and when his father saw the bruise, it wouldn't be such a shock.

For the past three weeks, his father asked him "how he was doing?" After getting kidnapped and beat up, plus all the other strange things that have been happening to him, his father was worried. He asked the question as Stiles put the dirty plates into the sink.

"Despite continually failing to get the girl I want, which by the way, I have another shot tonight, I'm doing good." He flashed his father a big smile. His father gently pushed him aside and started to wash the dishes. Stiles leaned against the counter.

"That's good," his father said, nodding. Stiles stared at him in silence. They were having a father-son moment. He liked it, but at the same time, he felt ashamed. The guilt of not being honest with his father was getting to him.

Unable to shake the guilt, he told his father he was going to the movies with Lydia, Scott, and Isaac; he assumed Scott was bringing Isaac along since they've been such good friends lately and excused himself from the kitchen.

He went upstairs to his room and grabbed his favorite red hoodie. He walked into bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. He flipped the lights on and went to it. As he brushed his teeth, he made faces in the mirror and bobbed his head to a rock tune he hummed.

Once he was done, he rinsed his mouth. He leaned down, closer to the faucet. He splashed water in his face, grabbed the bar of soap, rubbed it in his hands, put the bar down, and massaged the soap on his face. After thirty seconds, he splashed more water on his face, washing away the soap. He reached for the hand towel and dried his face.

He looked into the mirror and his mind flashed back to the last night when he was with Derek. His muscular body pressed up against him. His hormones raged inside him, sending a strong blood flow to his pants. He took a deep breath and exhaled as an overwhelming sexual tremble moved through his body. A small panting noise escaped his mouth.

His thoughts were interrupted. "What are you doing?" Scott asked with a curious and an amusing stare.

Stiles flushed with embarrassment and turned his back to Scott. "I was having murderous thoughts of killing you," he said sarcastically. He pretended to look for something at that side of the bathroom to give him time to calm down. He was thankful it didn't take much time because all that was in front of him were the toilet and a small garbage can.

"You're lying again," Scott said.

Stiles looked side to side. He had to think of something quick to say, but he didn't know what. Scott could tell when he was lying. "I'm…overwhelmed." He gave a vague answer.

"Yeah, I bet you are," Scott replied.

Stiles was overwhelmed and Scott thought it was because of Lydia, but Derek was the reason he was overwhelmed. Stiles smiled; he realized when he gave Scott vague answers, he couldn't detect the lies. No werewolf could detect a lie.

As they walked into his room, Stiles' smile grew, stretching from ear to ear. He found a way to outsmart a werewolf. He refrained himself for throwing his fist in the air, celebrating how super awesome he was.

"Hurry up, Isaac is downstairs." Stiles rolled his eyes and he zipped up his red hoodie. He thought Scott didn't invite him, but of course he, especially since Derek ordered he help keep an eye on me.

They went downstairs and met Isaac by the front door. "Dad, I'm leaving now," Stiles shouted towards the kitchen.

"Be safe, son," his father said, shouting back, but not as loud as Stiles shouted.

They exited the house.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. Enjoy.**

**Don't know how often I should write this, but I don't own Teen Wolf. The new characters, I do. **

Chapter 4

Stiles pulled out his cell phone and text messaged Lydia.

We're outside.

After he sent that text, he sent her another.

Scott and Isaac are joining us. Hope you don't mind. -_-

He narrowed his eyes at Scott and Isaac as he slid his cell phone back in the pocket of his red hoodie.

A second later, his cell phone chimed. He received a new text message. He pulled it out and opened the text.

Ok. Sure. No problem.

She replied.

Stiles looked at Scott. "Lydia is coming out soon and since you refuse to leave me alone. You'll need to sit in the back." Scott smiled and hopped in the back willingly.

Lydia came out dressed in gray jeans, a long sleeve, gray, snake-skin patterned sweater and a gray wool scarf wrapped nicely around her neck. Her long strawberry blonde hair popped out. She was stunning to him. She even caught Scott and Isaac's attention.

As she walked down her front steps, Stiles turned into a desperate teenager trying to impress a girl who was taken. He got out of his jeep and ran to the other side and opened the door, seconds before Lydia reached it.

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Stiles. You're such a gentleman," she said in a sweet voice that made him slightly weak in his knees. She got in and he closed the door. He took a deep breath and gathered himself.

He ran around to the driver's side and got in while Lydia, Scott, and Isaac said "hello" to each other. He reached for the seat belt with his right hand, causing his shoulder pain. He winced, silently. After the pain stopped, he grabbed the seatbelt with his left hand and buckled himself in.

He drove silently to the theaters.

When they arrived, Lydia decided for them, they were going to watch a romance movie. Scott and Isaac complained, but Stiles shot them a dirty look and pulled them aside. He told them, they didn't have to be here and if they decided to stay, to not say a word if it wasn't positive. Once they agreed; they returned to Lydia, who had already bought their tickets.

She handed them each a ticket. "Thanks," Isaac said. Scott smiled at her and handed her money for the ticket.

She pushed his hand back. "There's no need." Stiles tilted his head a little to the right. That was different, nice of her. Her act of kindness scored even more points with Stiles. He smiled at her.

They bought some drinks and snacks and went into auditorium 7. Stiles politely held Lydia's drink and walked behind her like a loyal puppy. Scott and Isaac mumbled comments under their breaths. Stiles heard, but chose not to deal with it. They found their seats in the center of the room. Scott and Isaac sat behind Stiles and Lydia. Stiles removed his red hoodie.

Nervous, Stiles shook his left leg, trying to think of a conversation to start while they wait for the movie to start. He thought maybe he should start with "sorry." He never apologized for keeping her immunity and the existence of werewolves from her.

He turned to her and as he was about to speak, she spoke, "Scott." He stopped his chatter with Isaac. "How did you manage to overcome the shift for a full moon?" Stiles frowned, knowing she was asking for Jackson. His shoulders fell.

"We found an anchor," Isaac answered. "I have my father and Scott has Allison." A pain surged through Scott's face and Stiles instantly knew that Scott's comments about Ruby were just for Isaac's entertainment. They continued talking about the anchor. Stiles felt left out for not being a werewolf. Lydia wasn't one, but her boyfriend was and that give her a reason for input.

The date wasn't going as he had hoped. He stared at the empty seats in the front of the room, zoning out of the conversation. As if it was something uncontrollable and natural, the image of Derek's naked body flooded his mind and on cue, blood rushed to his groin, causing his pants to tighten. His face flushed. Even though they couldn't see his face or his erection, he still felt uncomfortable.

"I'll be right back. Nature is calling," he said as he got up from his seat and jogged his way to the restroom. He exited the auditorium and ran into the restroom just across the hall. When he got near the door to the Men's Restroom, a guy in a black hoodie, just like his, ran into him and continued to the exit without an "excuse me" or a "sorry." His mind was too busy with other things to worry about someone's lack of manners.

He ran into the stall furthest from the entrance. He locked the door and leaned his head on it, taking deep breaths. "Tonight, I have to release," he whispered to himself as he tried thinking about other things like food, video games, and the threat supernatural beings caused.

A minute later, he calmed down and came out of the stall. When Stiles looked up, he saw Derek standing in front of him, causing him to jump back and push his body flat against the door. "What the hell man?" His heart raced. "Who are you, the alpha/stalker?"

Derek's stare was hard as usual. "I just wanted to check on you." He moved his eyes to Stiles' shoulder.

Stiles felt happy he was on Derek's mind like Derek was on his, but Derek's kindness confused him. "Be careful Tin Man, you wouldn't want people thinking you actually have a heart."

"Sarcasm. I see you're doing just fine." Derek turned around.

"I have a bruise, but nothing life threatening," Stiles said, reaching forward and grabbing Derek's huge bicep. Touching Derek made him nervous. He let go of his bicep and placed his hand back at his side.

Derek looked back Stiles and opened his open to say something when he paused. His green eyes flashed red and a small growl crept out of his clamped teeth that sharpened into wolf fangs.

Stiles' first thought why did there have to be something to interrupt them, but he dropped it. Derek's red eyes meant he heard or smelt another wolf. "What is it?" Stiles stepped closer to Derek.

"Stay here, Stiles," Derek ordered. He turned around and left the restroom.

Stiles looked at the door, thinking. Did Derek really think he was going to listen? He wasn't a wolf or a member of his pack. It only took him ten seconds after Derek left for him to decide he wanted to know what Derek heard or smelt.

He was sure it was most likely the alpha. When the thought registered in his head, he stopped outside the restroom. He pulled out his cell phone and text messaged Scott.

Derek is outside. I think he might have smelt the alpha. Come!

He didn't wait. He turned and walked down the hall to the side exit. He looked through the window, seeing if there was anyone around. All he saw were cars. He opened the door. He didn't hear a struggle. He walked outside as quiet as he could, looking all around him.

He walked around to the back of the building. He saw two tall figures facing each other, claws out and fangs elongated. Derek and the alpha. There was another person lying down on the ground, struggling to crawl away from them.

Two loud howls came from the top of the building. Was it Scott and Isaac? He looked up and saw two figures standing at the edge of the roof, peering down at Derek and the alpha. They stepped off the roof, dropping down. When they got closer to the ground, they crawled at the side of the brick building, slowly themselves down. They moved to Derek, standing behind him. They were his flanks.

Stiles threw his right fist in the air. "Yes," he said quietly. He winced. He forgot about the bruise on his right shoulder.

Lydia came out of the theater with his red hoodie. "Stiles," she said as she ran to his side. "We must go." When he didn't listen, she said, "they can handle this." He didn't want to leave them. He didn't want to leave _him. _

"What if they need our help?" Stiles asked, looking back at the wolves.

In sync with each other, Derek, Isaac, and Scott leaped forward and tackled the alpha down. He, the alpha, managed to flip them over him. He turned around on his hands on feet, shifting to a complete wolf like Peter once did. Derek, Isaac, and Scott took off. Stiles assumed they did that to keep the alpha from Lydia and him.

He remembered there was another person lying on the ground. "Hold on," he told Lydia as he ran to the person. He reached down, pushing down on the person's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" The person moved. Their head was covered by the hood of their hoodie.

The person picked up their head. Stiles still couldn't see their face, but he did see an amber glowing pair of eyes. The person was a werewolf. They got up and pushed Stiles down. He used his right hand to stop himself from hitting the ground. It worked, but it only furthered more damaged on his bruise shoulder. "Damn it!"

They took off, running like a wolf, separating themselves from Stiles.

As Stiles held his right arm closer to his body, he stared at the wolf until it vanished from his sight. He looked over at Lydia. She was walking towards him, looking side to side; making sure no one else was around. "Stiles, we should go."

"Yeah," he said as he got up. He noticed a necklace on the ground. He picked up and held it close to his face. It was a dark colored Cameo ribbon necklace.

"What is that?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know, but we should probably leave before someone comes back." Stiles put the necklace in his pocket and they ran back to his jeep and left. Stiles drove Lydia home.

When they arrived, Jackson was already waiting outside. He was standing next to his silver Porsche. Stiles pulled over next to Jackson. "This was fun," Lydia said. He knew she wasn't serious.

"Sure if possibly having been rip to pieces by an unknown alpha is fun, then yeah," Stiles said.

"Another time," she said. She leaned in towards him and kissed him on the cheek. Heat rushed to his face. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, Stiles." She got out of the car and went straight into Jackson's arms. He and Stiles shared an awkward glance. Stiles drove off.

Stiles arrived home and locked the doors in the house. His father was working a late shift tonight, so he was alone. He went up to his room and he noticed the window was open with the dark blue curtains flapping in the air from the wind. He reached for the switched and flipped the lights on.

At the opposite corner of the room, a man sat in a chair. Stiles jumped back, falling down in the hallway. His heart was pounding wild in his rib cage. He took a second look at the man. It was Derek. Stiles grabbed the nearest object to him and whipped it at Derek. "What the hell!"

Derek hit the object-a house slipper-, dodging it. He stood up and walked to Stiles. He grabbed his arm and pulled him into his room, closing the door. He moved Stiles to his bed and sat him down.

Stiles didn't fight back. He liked it when Derek was touching him, even if it was in a rough way. Derek looked at him hard. He shook his head and then lifted him up. "What are you doing?" Stiles asked.

He growled at Stiles, causing him to tense up. Derek pulled him up and into his arms, diving nose deep into Stiles' neck. Without control, Stiles trembled and panted as he fell weak to Derek inhaling his scent. His dream had become a reality. His heart raced and blood rushed to his pants. He moved his hands to the bulge in his pants and covered it. He didn't want Derek to feel it.

Derek moved his nose up Stiles' neck, caressing his skin and making Stiles tremble out of control. Derek parted his lips and stuck out his tongue as far as he could. Stiles' body filled with goose bumps when he felt Derek's tongue on his neck. His eyes closed and he let out a moan as Derek moved his tongue up the rest of his neck and up his face.

Stiles' body fell back in Derek's arms as he drifted away on a cloud of ecstasy. He was taking deep breaths, thinking if this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up. Ever.

Derek had licked his face three more times. By then, Stiles was on his bed and Derek was on top of him, thrusting his pelvis into Stiles'. Both of them in frenzy with full erections, Derek actually let out a moan that fueled Stiles to release another one, louder than the one before.

Stiles slowly wrapped his arms around Derek's muscular, fat free torso. He only had it wrapped around Derek for a moment; Derek broke away, breathing so deep that his shoulders moved up and down. His eyes were red. His teeth were sharp and elongated.

Derek didn't say a word, as usual, and left, leaping out of the window he came in through.

Stiles was short of breath and his mind was still running wild of what just happened. He couldn't believe it. He didn't believe that he slapped himself. He was still awake. When he tried to analyze what Derek was doing, his mind focused on his erection that throbbed with a need for assistance. He opened the drawer in his nightstand and pulled out a bottle of lotion and tissues.

He did his business…

…The next day, he met with Scott and Isaac in the parking lot. They told him about the alpha and how he was strong. They suspected the alpha came here for someone. Apparently the person that lay on the ground in between Derek and the alpha was that someone. Stiles told them the person was a werewolf as well. Jackson and Lydia joined them as they continued the conversation in the hallway near Scott's locker.

"Stiles found a necklace," Lydia said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but it was nothing out of the ordinary," Stiles said. He didn't have time last night to take a closer look at it because he was visited by Derek. His heart started to elevate and soon his friend would know something was up.

Then he was saved by the bell. They went their separate ways. Stiles sighed as he walked to his first class. It was a close call. He had to learn how to control himself around them. Scott was clueless a lot of the time, but now that he wasn't succumbed to Allison's presence, he became more aware of his surroundings. It was making it harder for Stiles to keep his hormones for Derek a secret.

He made it to his first class. Algebra. He sat down in his seat and pulled out a notebook, hoping to focus on the lesson today, unlike yesterday. A girl sat down in the chair next to him, dropping herself. Stiles could tell she did it on purpose to get his attention. He turned to her. She was a fair skinned girl with brown eyes and long curly brunette hair. She wore fitted clothes that complimented her thin, yet curvy frame. She was the girl Scott and Isaac talked about on their way to meet with Derek. _Ruby. _

"Hey Stiles," she said with a big seductive smile. Her pink lips shined in the sunlight from the lip gloss she had recently applied.

"Hi," he said. He couldn't think of anything else to say. Her beauty had him mesmerized.

The teacher began his lesson. Stiles and Ruby turned their attention to the lesson. Throughout the class, they shared glances. Stiles would always blush and Ruby would let out a small giggle. He was happy that she kept his mind from Derek. He was curious to know why he was having dreams of Derek, why he felt comfortable in his presence, why Derek appear to protect him, and recently, why Derek licked him, but he didn't like the erections that came with.

At the end of class, Ruby called him over to her locker. He jogged his way to her as she opened the locker. "Hey," he said.

Ruby pulled some books out of her locker and put them in her book bag. "I was wondering if you could help me with something."

Stiles lowered his head a little, trying to look her in the eye and read her. "Sure," he said, sounding unsure.

She looked up at him. Stiles stepped back when he saw her eyes weren't brown. They were amber. She was a werewolf. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said. Stiles took a few more steps back. She grabbed his arm, stopping him.

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat. She wasn't the alpha; her eyes were amber like a beta. She was the person in the black hoodie that bummed into him and the werewolf laying on the ground in between Derek and the alpha. "You're the werewolf from last night."

"Yes," she admitted. "But you have to keep it between us." She flashed her amber eyes at him. She wasn't giving him a choice. "There is an alpha coming for me. Can you help me find something I lost?"

Stiles wondered why it was always him, the powerless human, to be threatened by a werewolf. "Yeah, but I think I may have found it. A necklace," he said, remembering he found the cameo necklace after she took off.

Her eyes widened. "Yes, that's it. Where is it?"

"I…I left it at my house."

She closed her locker and grabbed his arm, pulling down the hallway. "We need to get it. Now!"

He pulled his arm out of her hand. "No." He didn't know her and she was a strange werewolf. He couldn't just walk off with her. _What would Derek think? _He thought. What would Derek think? _Who cares? _But he decided to use Derek to protect himself from her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I belong to the pack that resides here. It wouldn't be smart to attack me." Her face stayed hard, but he knew she understood. He didn't belong to Derek's pack, but he hoped she was too distracted by trying to retrieve the necklace, she wouldn't hear his heart jump when he lied.

"Fine." She stepped closer to him. "But I really need that necklace. It's of life and death." She walked away from him. "Remember Stiles," she said, pressing her index finger to her lips. He had to keep, her being a werewolf, a secret.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews and, of course, for continuing to read this story. I am trying to keep things rated T and a loyal friend said I was walking on the thin border line. So I will say last chapter's encounter will be the most sexual this part will get, but I promise the story will be better. Thanks again everyone for reading. **

Chapter 5

At lunch, Stiles impatiently waited for Scott at their usual table. He tapped his fingers on the table top. Scott and Isaac, the new hot couple, came over to him. "Scott," Stiles said, reaching for Scott's arm and pulling him down. Scott's tray of food made a smacked noise on the table.

Isaac just stared at Stiles as he sat down on the opposite side of Scott. "So the alpha came here following someone," Stiles said. Jackson sat down on Stiles' left side. Lydia sat down to the left of Jackson. The wolves turned to him, staring hard at him, giving him their full attention.

"How do you know?" Scott asked.

"Derek said he found the alpha hovering over the other wolf, but he wasn't sure what was going on," Isaac added. Stiles narrowed his eyes at him, wondering why he didn't mention this earlier.

Lydia sat, ate her food, and listened as the boys talked.

Jackson asked Stiles, "what do you know?" He said with a demanding tone. Stiles stared at him, thinking who the hell Jackson thought he was. He wasn't anyone to being giving Stiles that tone.

He thought for a moment of what to say. He couldn't lie. Yes, he could take the vague approach like he had with Scott last night, but actually fooling three wolves at once, would take more experience than he possessed. "Stiles," Scott said. He looked at Scott, still not saying a word.

If he wanted to get anything out of Ruby, he had to keep her promise. _Tell no one she is a werewolf. _"Okay, hear me out." He looked at only Scott. Jackson and Isaac didn't matter to him. When Scott didn't speak, Stiles said, "so?" He wanted Scott to agree to hear him out.

Scott nodded.

"I know who the"-he lowered his voice-"werewolf is." That was all Stiles said when they leaned in closer to him. Stiles leaned back. He didn't like how they were so closer to him, especially Jackson.

"Who?" Scott asked, demanding an answer.

"I can't tell you."

"What?" Jackson growled.

"Did I stutter?" He retorted, moving closer to Jackson, shaking his head. Jackson's facial muscles flexed and his eyes flashed an iridescent blue color with anger. Stiles drew back. "Jackson," Lydia said, grabbing his arm. He forgot that she was here. Jackson sniffed the air and his eyes turned back to their natural, non-werewolf blue (another mystery none of them knew).

Stiles shook his head. He rose from the table and grabbed Scott by his arm, pulling him out of the cafeteria. He only wanted to talk to Scott. Jackson was rude and he didn't want to hear his comments. Isaac, he simply was jealous of him. "Look, I know who he is." Stiles used "he" instead of "it" or "they" so Scott wouldn't think the wolf was a she. "I need you to trust me on this one." He looked deep into his best friend's eyes, hoping to get his approval. He knew he was the only one Ruby would share her information with.

"Fine," Scott agreed. He pulled out his cell phone and typed something in it. He handed the phone to Stiles.

We'll need to tell Derek. If you need any help. Tell me.

Stiles read it and froze when he read Derek. He hadn't thought of Derek in a sexual way since he went to bed last night. He wrote everything he felt for him off as a lack of sexual release. "Okay," he said as his hormones awakened. "I-I ha-have to go," he stuttered. He ran back to the cafeteria, grabbed his book bag, and left out the other entrance.

He ran down the hall, making it halfway across the school building. His heart raced, pumping blood and testosterone throughout his body. He entered the boy's locker room and went straight to the showers, dropping his book bag outside of it. He turned on the nearest one on the left side, turning the knob all the way to the right so ice cold water came out. He removed his shirts, tossing it on the floor next to his book bag and stuck his head under the falling frozen knifes of cold water. His body constricted when the drops hit the back of his head.

He let out a deep breath and shivered. The hairs on his body, that wasn't wet, rose. His body shivered out of control. He turned off the water and shook his head, removing the loose water drops. His skin was still wet, but he didn't care. He walked over to his book bag and shirt. He put his shirt on and threw his book bag over his shoulder.

He continued his day as normal as he could, trying-and failing-not to think of Derek. After school, Stiles saw Allison. With Isaac always around Scott and Derek on his mind, Stiles thought maybe she could be the one he shared his feelings with.

As Allison opened her locker, Stiles stopped next to her and tapped her shoulder. When she turned around, he said, "hey Allison." He flashed a big cheesy smile.

"Hey, Stiles," she said back to him, looking into her locker. She brushed him off.

"I need someone to talk to," Stiles said, slightly getting her attention. She looked at him. "So I have this friend."

"You," she said. He thought for a second. Why did he take this approach? Everyone that would start off saying "I have this friend" usually was referring to themselves.

Continued with the approach he began. "A friend," he corrected her. She nodded, not believing him. "He's been having some conflicting feelings for…" He paused. He couldn't tell her Derek. She was the last person that wanted to hear about him or even his name. He realized how futile this conversation would be for him.

He continued anyway, "_someone_ that he shouldn't, any way in hell, be having." He paused. He saw in her eyes that she knew the feeling all too well.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "You…your friend should just rid him of their feelings. It will only bring him bad things." He knew she was talking about her relationship with Scott.

Stiles dropped his conversation and asked her, "we're still friends, right?" She looked at him, but didn't say a word. "Just because things didn't work out with Scott, that does mean I can't be your friend."

His words triggered anger in her. "I tried explaining this to Lydia. I just can't be around any of you right now." She slammed her locker and walked away.

Stiles walked to his jeep. The way Allison responded and acted to their encounter bounced around in his head. Was that the path he'd walk if he pursued his feelings for Derek? After that question popped in his head, he began thinking was that what he wanted? A relationship with Derek? Were his feelings something more than sexual arousal?

His heart raced and his hands started to tremble. _Was this lust I was feeling or…love? _He thought. No, it couldn't be love. He wouldn't accept that; at least not for Derek.

_Could I? _He thought. "No, I can't." He said as he arrived at his jeep. On his driver's side view mirror was a posted note. He grabbed it. _Stiles, I ditched school. Meet me on Wilson Drive by the 7 eleven. -R. _After he read it, he crumbled it up and stuck it in his pant pocket.

He drove off before Scott, and Isaac, saw him. It only took him a few minutes before he reached his destination. He pulled over to the side, across the street from the 7 eleven. He looked around, looking for Ruby.

He was startled when he heard a loud thud on the top of his jeep. He slowly edged his head to the window. Long, curly, brunette hair dropped down into his view, along with Ruby's face.

She smiled at him. "Why so scared?" She jumped down and moved super fast to the passenger side. She opened the door and got in. When Stiles didn't move, she said, "let's go, man."

"Yeah, yeah." He put the jeep in drive and drove to his house.

She pulled out a CD from her coat pocket and put it in the CD player. "I hope you don't mind." He shook his head. "Sweet." She turned it to track 3 and turned up the volume. The tune started first and then the voices followed. They sang in a foreign language.

"What is this?" He said loud

"Kpop." She turned the volume down. She verified what it was exactly when Stiles gave her his confuse stare. "As in Korean Pop. The song is called 'No Gain' by Junsu."

He wanted to know what her connection with the alpha was. He took advantage of the drive. Since she went to school at Beacon Hills High, it was obvious she was from here. So he thought to jump back to last night. "So last night, what happened?"

"Long story short." She tied all her hair back into a ponytail. "The alpha wants something I have."

His overactive mind knew what I was. "The necklace. Wait, who is he?"

"Yes and what makes you think he is a he?" She said, sounding offended.

"You are absolutely right." He became uneasy. She was a werewolf that he knew practically nothing about and at any moment could tear him to pieces.

She laughed at his nervousness. "Take it easy. The alpha is a man." She smiled and turned her body to him, getting comfortable. "Sorry about the other night." He glanced at her and raised his eyebrow. "I was the reason the alpha found you and Derek." She wrinkled her eyebrows, questioning if that was his name. "I think that's his name." The alpha was chasing her and run into Derek and him.

And at that, he started thinking about Derek. He took slow and deep breaths. He didn't want to talk about it with her. The point of all this was to get the scoop on her. "Yeah, that's his name." He stayed silent. He focused hard on not thinking about Derek and his muscular body that glistened with sweat from when Kate shot him with an arrow.

He managed to get Derek off of his mind when parked in his driveway. They went inside his house. Ruby sneezed. "You should dust." His mind was too focused on keeping his hormones in check to respond. They went upstairs to his room.

He knew where he left the necklace, in the pocket of his red hoodie, but he took his time. "So back to your past, why does the alpha." He stopped in mid-sentence and began a new one. "What is his name?"

She sat down on his bed, but then got up really quick and sat at his desk chair. "James." She answered without hesitation.

Stiles walked pass his red hoodie that was next to his bed on the floor and went into his closet, searching through his dirty pile of clothes. "So why does James want your necklace?"

"Well it's his necklace and I don't know. All I know is it was something of great value to him and after he and his three betas killed my alpha and pack, I took it and run." Her voice was rough. Stiles was sure her eyes were amber while she spoke.

He decided that was good enough. He'd share what he learned with Scott and Derek and they could decide what to do next. He back out of the closet and smacked his head. "Duh, I left it over here."

She distracted him when she asked, "so how long have you and Derek been an _item_?" Stiles froze in his spot. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks. He could feel the pounding of his heart in his neck.

"What are you talking about?" He turned away from her, looking side to side. His face heated up. He glanced at her from over his shoulder.

She spun around in the desk chair once, letting her long, and curly hair go wild in the air. "Come on, you aren't fooling me." She stopped, facing him. "Your heart accelerates every time you or I say the name Derek." And as she said "Derek," his heart jumped. She smiled.

Stiles continued to search for the necklace. He picked up his hoodie and pulled it out. "We're not an item and I'm not gay." He said as he held out the cameo necklace.

"Well that's not what my werewolf senses say." She didn't reach for the necklace.

Stiles sat down on his bed, intrigued with what she had said. "What do you mean?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped and looked out the window as a gust of wind entered the room. Her eyes turned amber. The gust brought the scent of another werewolf and she smelt it. Could it be Scott? Derek? Or Isaac? Stiles heart started to accelerate. Soon who ever was close would smell her scent and know she was a werewolf. "Ruby, you have."

Ruby got up, moved to him, placing her hand over his mouth and cutting him off, grabbed the necklace from his hand, and put it on. She sat down next to him and whispered, "you've been marked."

He stared into her eyes. They carried honestly and truth. _Marked? _By who and when? Before he could ask her his questions, Scott came in through the window. Ruby moved in and kissed Stiles.

Scott froze when he saw Ruby kissing Stiles, whose lips were stiff and unprepared. Hers were soft and experience. He liked it. He didn't want her to stop. Ruby giggled at being caught by Scott. She broke away from him and stuck another posted note in his front pant pocket. He could see pain in her face. Was it painful to kiss him? "Call me later." She looked at Scott, forcing a smile. "Hi." She waved and walked out of his room, leaving Scott and Stiles with their mouths gaping open.

But the only thing on Stiles mind was Ruby kissed me.

Isaac crawled into the window. "What happening?" He looked at them, and then moved his eyes to the door, and back to them.

"Yeah, Stiles, what was happening?" Scott asked. Isaac and Scott laughed playfully at Stiles, at how he was dumbfounded. Stiles didn't like their laughing.

He rolled his eyes and let his body fall back on his bed. He sighed. "I don't know." And that was the truth; he didn't. He didn't know why Scott and Isaac didn't smell that Ruby was a werewolf or why she even kissed him. Maybe it was a show for Scott since she did pick up on his scent.

"Derek wanted to know if you got anything on this werewolf." Isaac asked.

Stiles sighed again. He didn't want Derek on his mind and every time he managed to rid him, someone would always bring him up. It had to be his rival. He rose from his bed and spoke, distracting his mind from thinking more of Derek. "Yes, he's from here and the reason James, the alpha, is after him is because he took something of value from James."

"Why did he took, whatever it is, from James?" Scott asked.

Stiles knew the necklace he found was the item James wanted, but he couldn't tell them. Ruby was wearing the necklace when Scott caught her kissing him. Then Scott would know he was lying about the werewolf being a guy and that Ruby was the werewolf.

"James killed his alpha and pack." Scott and Isaac were silent. Stiles started wondering about Derek and what he was doing this very moment.

Isaac and Scott shared a glance. "I'll tell Derek."

Stiles cleared his throat, getting their attention. They looked at him. "Nothing." He wanted to tell Derek himself. Well, he really just wanted to see Derek. "Go." Scott and Isaac, the new couple, ducked out the window and left.

Stiles wanted to see Derek. The urge stretched underneath his skin. He grabbed his phone and text messaged Derek. Meet me at the cliff. Now! After he sent the text message, he grabbed his red hoodie, went downstairs and wrote his father a note telling him he was with Ruby and left it on kitchen table. He got in his jeep and drove to the cliff.

The whole way there he tapped his fingers on the stirring wheel. His mind was overwhelmed with his soon meeting with Derek. That was, if Derek actually read his text message and decided to go. What if didn't show? He would have wasted his time driving all the way to the cliff.

He looked at the rearview mirror, contemplating on whether he should turn around. But what if Derek did show? Then he would be stood up and that would make an angry Derek. Stiles had seen an angry Derek. It wasn't something he wanted to witness again.

He decided to continue to the cliff. He told Derek to meet him there, so he had to be there. When he arrived, he parked on the shoulder and got out of his jeep. He put on his hoodie and zipped it up. He began walking towards the cliff. Well, where he thought it was; Derek had zigzagged all the way up, Stiles didn't know the way.

He reached the top and sat on the boulder where Derek had sat. He became creepily obsessive when he touched the boulder, thinking he could somehow feel Derek's presence because Derek had sat in the same spot. He stood up and paced around.

He didn't know how to comprehend what was happening to him. He was obsessing over Derek. He chewed the inside of his lip as he thought about what Ruby had said. _You've been marked. _

It hit him like a thunder bolt, charging his brain to put everything together. When Derek licked him; Derek was marking him. Jackson and Ruby, both, challenged him, but backed down. Whatever the reason was, it was because of what Derek did. It didn't allow Ruby to sit on his bed. It caused Ruby pain when she kissed him. He wasn't him. He being able to stand up and win against the werewolves wasn't because of him. It was all Derek.

He looked at his phone. He was here waiting for a half hour. Derek wasn't coming. He was stood up. "Ass," he said out loud.

"Who is an ass?" A rough and manly voice, Stiles knew all too well, said. Derek was here with him. He did show.

Stiles turned his head to Derek and when their eyes linked together, all his confusion dissolved. "What did you do to me?" He asked.

"What I always seem to do. Save your life," Derek answered.

That frustrated him. He ran up to Derek and pushed him, failing to make him budge. "What did you do to me?" He asked again, only this time he raised his voice. Derek's green eyes flashed red and Stiles wasn't concern with Derek's no-touching rule. "Why did you lick me?" Ruby said he was marked, but that could mean anything to the werewolves and for Ruby's sake, he didn't mention the word "mark."

Derek's face turned harder than usual. It wasn't anger, but a face of confliction. "Tell me!"

Derek growled. His teeth elongated and eyes turned red. Stiles stumbled back, falling down. His heart raced. He thought Derek was going to finally kill him. Derek bent down, hovering over him. He spoke, "I marked you as mine."

"What?" Stiles said. He didn't know what else to say. His mind couldn't wrap itself around the words. _I marked you as mine. _Was he now Derek's bitch?

"It was either that or work with Scott, and I don't want to work with him on this," Derek said, coldheartedly explaining his reason for action.

The words hit Stiles in the chest like a jagged and rusted dagger. His face tensed up as needles poked his cheeks for ever thinking it was more than business. Derek picked the lesser of two evils. He would have settled for lust over nothing. Finding his voice, Stiles said, "is marking me that bad?" He sounded desperate for Derek to say "no."

Derek ignored his question completely and said, "it only worked because you allowed it. You accepted it." His eyes, that turned back to a light shade of green, stared hard at Stiles and not because he was mad, but because his was just as confused as Stiles.

He didn't accept anything. "What exactly does that mean?"

"We're mates." Stiles jaw fell down, perfectly open for someone to kiss him.

"I'm…your, your…bit-bitch," Stiles mumbled


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I just want to thank you all for your support. Especially H, A, and R. You three know who you are. Enjoy.**

Chapter 6

Stiles paced back and forth a few feet away from Derek, processing what he was told. Derek and he were mates now. He was Derek's and Derek was his. He stopped in mid-step when the realization hit him; they officially belonged together.

His heart skipped a beat and he knew Derek heard it. His throat dried and closed up. He unzipped his hoodie and pulled down on the collar of his shirt. _Derek is mine, all mine. _The words repeated at least a million times before a minute had gone by. He looked up at Derek.

"So are we boyfriends now?" Derek's eyes widened. He didn't expect Stiles to say the words. The word "boyfriend" made the familiar warm feeling returned in the pit of his stomach and moved up his esophagus, warming up his chest. His body was relaxed, floating on that cloud of ecstasy like last night in his room.

Unable to keep it in, he sighed, leaving his mouth opened. His lip hung heavy in the air for _him, _Derek, to lift it up.

Derek spoke, breaking Stiles out of his trance. "You're getting far ahead of yourself. I only did this to give you a better chance at surviving this alpha. It's against our law to attack someone else's mate." His eyes flashed red.

He remembered when Ruby kissed him and she felt pain. "What happens when someone does?"

Derek walked up to him. "They'll feel a burning, agonizing pain." It was a consequence for moving in on someone else's property, Derek's property. The warm feeling spread to his face; his pale cheeks converted to a crimson color, giving his dead-like skin life.

It frustrated Stiles, not being able to control his body. He made a growl noise in the back of his throat that sounded like a bear waking up from hibernation. He couldn't settle down. He was Derek's mate. He shook his body, throwing his arms in the air.

"Forget the meds?" Derek asked with his hands in his leather coat pockets, standing like he was nothing to him.

"There isn't enough meds in the world to help me with you," Stiles unthinkingly blurted out. He couldn't think clearly with Derek around. He had to leave. He turned around and started back to his jeep.

He was just as confused as he was two nights ago; the only thing missing to make this all the same was for James to appear. He looked back to see if Derek or James was behind him. No one was and when he looked forward, a pair of two red eyes appeared only inches away from his, causing his body to come to a halt and tense up. "Stop," Derek's voice said with a growl, sending a shutter through his frail body.

Stiles looked into Derek's eyes as they turned from red to green. He found it strange how it was the way the growl made him feel weak that it registered in his head, that the red eyes were Derek's and not James'. "I'll ride with you," Derek said in his usual rough and manly voice. Derek's voice before made Stiles feel terrified and now, he actually didn't. Okay, he did feel terrified, but a tiny less.

Derek put his arm on Stiles' back and pushed him forward towards his jeep. His heart accelerated as they walked; Derek two feet behind him. Derek was touching him, calming his brain. So he could think.

Derek had marked Stiles as his mate and he accepted it. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Mates meant he would be protected. He had his very own body guard. _Body guard, _he thought, smiling big. He was cool like someone in the mafia, dangerous and wanted that he needed a bodyguard.

Derek moved his hand up, closer to his right shoulder. Waves of sexual arousal rippled through his body. Thoughts of Derek moving his hands all over his body flashed in his mind. His breathing got heavy.

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat. He couldn't let Derek see him like this. It would be too embarrassing. Then Derek would know, physically, Stiles was into him.

"How is your shoulder?" Derek asked.

Stiles had completely forgotten about his bruised shoulder. "Umm…it's." He rotated his right shoulder. "Like I have super werewolf healing." Maybe not like super werewolf healing. The bruise was still there, but the pain was gone.

They made it to his jeep and got inside. Now that Derek wasn't touching him, his mind started working like normal. That was normal for him.

Did being mates with Derek mean he would change? He had to know. "So how does this 'marking me as yours' work? Do I get super strength? Does my hearing enhance? Will I shift into a wolf on a full moon?" His mind went into overdrive.

Derek did what he always did to shut Stiles up; he growled and just like that, Stiles tensed up. "No." His answer was cold and short. Stiles stared at Derek. Why was he concern with him just a minute ago and now he was being distant like he didn't care?

Stiles turned on the engine and drove off. The car drive was silent and since he never got a good answer, the silence was getting under his skin. He couldn't take it. He lifted his hand and turned on the CD player. No sound came out of the speakers. He remembered when Ruby was in here; she turned down the volume.

He turned the small knob, turning up the volume. "_…don't be a shy kind of guy, I bet it's beautiful. Come on baby, I let me see what you're hiding underneath." _Stiles started bobbing his head to the beat, until the chorus came on. _"I wanna see your peacock-cock-cock. Your peacock-cock. Your peacock-cock-cock. Your peacock. I wanna see your peacock-cock-cock. Your peacock-cock." _Stiles blushed, the brightest red known to man. He quickly hit the power knob.

He kept his eyes on the road. His cheeks were a permanent red. In an instant, sweat accumulated a thick layer over his forehead. The deafening silence that sat in between them thickened, putting Stiles on edge.

The way Stiles dealt with the edge was to think of other things, but his mind seemed to focus on one thing. _Derek. _

Derek was sitting in his jeep less than a foot away from him. The itching under his skin returned. He bit his bottom lip, hoping it would stop the itch from making him turn and lean over to Derek and plant a kiss on his lips. Stiles glanced at Derek from the corner of his eye. Derek was looking out the window. That was fine with Stiles. He could look at Derek's physique.

Stiles glanced back at the road and then glanced back at Derek. His leather coat was unzipped and opened, exposing the outline of his muscular chest that was visible through his shirt. He swallowed the saliva that built up in his mouth as he looked back onto the road. He glanced once more at Derek, moving his eyes lower to a more exciting spot. Derek's junk that made a bulge in his pants.

Stiles looked back at the road as soon as he felt his pants grow tight. He couldn't do this. He was driving and trying to look at Derek was a danger to _his _life. He spoke, ending the silence, "umm…have you spoke with Isaac or Scott." Derek growled when he heard Scott's name. "Isaac told me you know who the werewolf is and that you're going to talk to him." He sounded irritated. Stiles heard in Derek's voice what he already knew. Derek didn't want him dealing with the werewolf on his own.

Stiles liked that Derek was concern with his wellbeing. "His pack was killed by the alpha James and the reason he came here was for a necklace the wolf took."

"Stiles, what's his name?" Derek asked about the werewolf. Ruby.

Stiles didn't answer. He couldn't break his promise.

Derek grabbed Stiles' arm and growled, bringing terror to his young mate, "Stiles."

Stiles swerved into the other lane. He got control of the wheel and moved back into the right lane. He stopped at a stop sign, the one a corner from his home. "Don't do that, man. We could have died."

"Calm down little boy," Derek said belittling him.

Stiles didn't like that. "You know what?" He asked, rhetorically. He turned the corner and drove to his driveway. He parked his jeep and turned off the engine. "You're not only a bad person,"-he unbuckled his seat beat-"you're a bad boyfriend." He froze for a moment, not believing he had actually referred Derek as his boyfriend. He shook his head and got out of his jeep.

He stomped his way to his door. He thought about what he said to Derek. _You're a bad boyfriend. _The word boyfriend sounded right. It felt right to him. The corners of his lips curved upward. He never had a relationship. No, he hadn't until now. Derek and he were mates. They were together.

Stiles entered his house without saying bye to Derek. He went upstairs to his room, thinking of Derek and his ripped, muscular body. He imagined Derek's hulk-like arms wrapped around his body and his washboard abs pushed up against his stomach. His pants tightened.

He went into his room and Derek was standing next to his window, looking like a serial killer with his arms down at his sides. "What?" Stiles said.

Derek moved to Stiles. He got so close that Stiles was pushed up against his computer desk. Derek leaned down, hovering his face inches away from Stiles' face. The itch underneath Stiles' lips to kiss Derek returned.

"I am not a bad boyfriend," he said softly. His voice was defensive.

Stiles understood what he said. The words were simple and shallow, but when it came to mysterious Derek, he knew there was more to what he said. He stared at Derek's collar. He thought; was there really more to his words? Or was this all his imagination? Derek confused him. He kept his distance and threatened him with his growls. Then there were moments when he seemed to care. Like when he followed Stiles into the restroom last night to ask him how his shoulder was doing. He asked it again. Now he came to clarify that he wasn't a bad boyfriend.

Derek liked him. Stiles was sure of it. "You like me, admit it," Stiles said, moving his chin upward an inch. Now their lips were closer. He inhaled Derek's deep breath, feeling his warmth caress the inside of his mouth.

Derek's eyes widened. Stiles caught him off guard with his statement. He grounded his teeth. "Don't be delusional. You're not my type," he stated, recovering from his dumbfounded moment.

Stiles slumped his head as the needles poked at his cheeks. "Thanks for your honesty." He felt like such a loser for thinking Derek was into him. Why would he be? Stiles was just a boy with no real experience in life, love or sex. He was still a virgin, in every sense of the word.

"Stiles," Derek said softly as he lifted Stiles' chin with his hand. They gazed deep into each other's eyes.

Their lips were closer that Stiles' mind went over the edge. _He's going to kiss me, _Stiles thought. Derek should, especially after the way he made him feel. Stiles closed his eyes and puckered his lips. He could feel Derek's intoxicating, warm breath caress his lips. _YES! Kiss me! Kiss me damn it!_

"Stiles," his father said, knocking on the door. Stiles opened his eyes; Derek was gone. Of course.

_Oh my god! _Stiles growled in the back of his throat again. Someone just had to interrupt them. He composed himself and answered, "yes, dad?"

"Dinner is ready," his father said, opening the door. "I got take out. Chinese." On cue, Stiles' stomach growled. He was starving.

They went downstairs to the kitchen and ate. Well for Stiles, it was more like he pigged out. By the end, most of what he ate was smeared all around his lips and on his cheeks. Food was distracting him, but Derek was in the back of his mind and he didn't forget about him. Derek was the reason he didn't hear his father tell him to slow down and stop eating like a wild animal.

He thought about what it would be like to go on a dinner date with Derek. He imagined Derek dressed up in a button up shirt, slacks, and tie. Of course, his clothes were dark colored, black and gray. Derek would show up in his black camaro, knock on the front door with some kind of flowers-_maybe roses, no, something better like birds of paradise_-, his father would answer just as Stiles was walking down the stairs, and Derek and he would smile.

His imagination stopped when his father asked him a question. "A deputy said he saw you with Derek Hale today." Stiles' heart rate jumped. He looked at his father, who wasn't looking back at him.

His father's statement sounded like he was disappointed in him. "Uh…yeah." He didn't know what to say. _Yeah, I was with him. Guess what? Derek and I are mates. _Yeah, as if that would ever go well with his father.

"That guy is bad news. He was linked to a lot of crimes in past," his father stated.

A switch, he didn't know he had, flipped on inside him, coming to Derek's defense. "Crimes he was never convicted of," Stiles said, sounding annoyed. His father finally made eye contact, gnawing on-the already chewed up-food in his mouth. "He asked for a ride," Stiles lied.

The lie didn't sit well with him. He was a border line compulsive liar when it came to his father. What choice did he really have? Tell his father that werewolves existed? That would land him in the loony bin.

"I would feel much better if you didn't associate yourself with bad people." His father's voice was firm. Stiles knew when Gerard and his henchmen kidnapped him; his father's world was shock at its core. The night Stiles came home after Gerard beat the hell out of him, he could see the misery in his father's eyes. The same misery Stiles saw the day his mother dead.

Stiles lost his appetite. "I'm full." He slouched in his seat, pretending. He didn't feel worthy of having dinner with his father when all he did was lie to him. He got up and threw the remainder of his fried rice in the garbage.

Afterward he went up to his room and did his homework. An essay for English that he plagiarized from internet. The algebra lesson he managed to do; it was difficult because Ruby distracted him from. Chemistry was in school work and history he did during his study hour.

He put his work in his book bag. He took a shower and then went to bed.

The next morning, he text messaged Ruby, telling her to meet him at his house before school. Scott called twice, but Stiles ignored the calls. He had to focus on getting more information out of Ruby.

When she arrived, she had a big smile on her face. She was acting conspicuous. "What?" Stiles asked as they walked to his jeep and got inside. She didn't answer. She just sat in the passenger seat, smiling.

"So you went to visit Derek." Her statement sounded like a question, but by the grin that appeared on her face when Stiles' heart beat jumped, he knew it wasn't a question.

Stiles was on the road, heading to school before he answered to the question she didn't ask. "Yeah. You knew I was his mate, didn't you?" She nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged. "I thought it would be funnier if he told you." She followed him to the cliff. "So are you official?" She leaned towards him, grabbing his arm and pulling it down a little. She was acting like they were bffs and wanted him to spill the hot gossip. "Are you boyfriends?"

There was that word again. _Boyfriend. _It sounded right even when she said it. "We're not," Stiles said grimly. He didn't like that Derek wasn't his boyfriend. He didn't want to think about Derek. "Why wasn't Scott able to pick up on your scent?"

"The necklace," she answered, grabbing it with her hand and staring at it. "The cameo is made out of a moon stone and it can either make you stronger or hide you." She let the necklace fall on her cleavage. "I choose to have it hide me."

"Why did James kill your pack?" She looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "If you want me help you're going to need to trust me," he stated. "And tell me what I need to know." He wasn't lying and she knew it.

"I don't know why he killed Carlos or the rest." Her face hardened. She turned her head, staring forward. "Carlos sacrificed his life so that I could escape." She relived the moment in her head.

They were silenced, by her reveal, the last two minutes of their drive. Stiles parked his jeep at the back of the school parking lot. He turned to her and whispered, "how do you plan to get rid of him?" He asked knowing there was only one way to end her running.

She looked at him with no doubt on what she had to do. "Kill him."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's Note: Sorry I took so long to post another chapter. I've been busy with another writing collaboration with a fellow follower and as well as my original stories. A cool fact: every time Stiles growls in the back of his throat, that's my way of him saying "f***" And thank you everyone who reads, follows and favorites this story. Enjoy.**_

Chapter 7

Ruby and Stiles got out of his jeep in a hasty fashion. "How do you plan on doing that?" Stiles asked. They walked towards the school building. Ruby moved her curly hair back and grazed her-James'-necklace with her fingertips. She was planning to use the moon stone to kill James.

As they reached the sidewalk, Ruby came to a halt, extending her arm, stopping Stiles as well. She raised her nose and sniffed the air. She smelt wolves (Scott, Isaac, and Jackson) near. Her answers, from that point on, were vague. "With your help."

"How are we going to find him?" Stiles asked in a low voice.

"I have an idea." That was all she said about that matter. "Meet me at my locker before class?" Stiles nodded. She smiled and walked ahead.

"Stiles," he heard a lovely, sweet voice say. He turned to the right. Lydia stood, smiling at him. With Jackson. They walked to him.

"Hey, Lydia." He mumbled, immaturely, "Jackson."

She wrapped her arm around Stiles'. His heart accelerated. Jackson wasn't bothered by how Lydia crossed boundaries. He, also, walked ahead, catching up to Danny.

"So what are you doing tonight?" She asked, looking forward.

He became uneasy. Her touch made him uneasy. "Umm…I have plans with Ruby." He actually didn't, but he assumed after their last conversation.

"Oh…her." Lydia's voice hardened, sounding irritated. The next part, her voice softened like she was genuinely worried for him. "Advice from a friend." She looked at him as they entered the school and walked down the hallway, navigating their way through the student body.

Stiles turned his head to her, questioning where this sudden need to give guidance come from did.

"This Ruby girl isn't good news." He raised his eyebrow. She pulled him to the side and said, lowering her voice, "I heard that over the summer, she was arrested fro breaking in and entering and for theft."

Stiles didn't care, mainly because he was no saint either. Last month, he "borrowed" a police truck and kept Jackson captive in it. The only reason he didn't get arrested because his father was the Sheriff. And also because Ruby was his friend. "What does that have to do with anything?" Lydia always spoke her mind, but never spread rumors. He didn't like this side of her. He turned and looked away.

"She's bad." Stiles looked back at her, narrowing his eyes. He didn't believe the rumors that came from the mouths of those who went to this school and he couldn't believe she would feed into them.

Ruby was the only person that made the effort to spend time with him and for that; he had to have her back. "You don't know her," he snapped, jerking his head forward to hers, defensively. Snapping at her in way, he had only done once.

Lydia stood in silence just like the last time. Obviously hurt by his reaction, she pushed him aside and walked away.

Feeling bad for the way he reacted, he regretted it in seconds. "Lydia, wait," he said, trying to grab her arm before she could get away. When he reached for it, she yanked her arm out of his grasp.

He lowered his head and walked to his locker. He switched out his notebooks and text books. He couldn't believe he went off on her like that. She was his friend too and she was just looking out for him. He couldn't have blamed her for that. That was what he wanted; someone who looked out for him.

Stiles made his way to Ruby's locker. He managed to avoid running into Scott. It was easy; Scott and Isaac were discussing something. He leaned against the locker next to hers and looked down at his shoes as he moved his foot an inch forward and then inch back, repeatedly.

Ruby sensed Stiles was upset about something. She leaned on the locker door, looking at him. "Hey, what's wrong?" She said in a sweet voice that made him look at her.

"My friend Lydia said something I didn't like and I snapped at her." He forced a grin to hide his frown; it was a failed attempt. "I'd rather not talk about it." He knew she'd ask what Lydia said and he couldn't tell her without the risk of her getting anger.

They dropped the subject.

They went into their algebra class. Today their teacher had them work in pairs on the packet he handed to them. Ruby moved her desk next to his. "Partner," she said. Stiles forced another smile. He was happy to work with her, but Lydia's word stirred inside him.

They started working on their 5 page packet. At first, they only spoke about the homework. Then about one page into it, Ruby asked about Derek, but Stiles shot the subject down.

Unfortunately, she triggered the _Derek _button, that magically appeared, in his mind and that was all he could think about. He dropped his pencil, not fighting his mind. He let the thoughts of Derek enter. Stiles felt his hard, yet warm touch on his skin. Goose bumps rose. He looked up at Ruby when his heart beat picked up. She was smiling; she heard it. "Do you want to talk about it now?" She asked.

Stiles did. He leaned forward in his seat. "I think I'm gay," he whispered to her. He questioned his own sexuality and with his lustful dreams and thoughts of Derek, he was sure of it.

Ruby stared at him, narrowing her eyes little. Stiles didn't like her facial expression. He felt like she was judging him and it made him feel insecure. He was about to withdraw from the conversation when she spoke, "why do I feel like that isn't your issue…"

"'Cause it's not." He paused. "This is about Derek. I…think. I think I might actually like the sour wolf."

She put her pencil down. This needed her full attention. "I don't see the problem. You like him." She made it sound so simple. Maybe it was that simple and he was just overanalyzing the situation.

"I think he might like me too…" He trailed off, sighing. He really didn't know. Yes, Derek licked him, mating with him and he seemed concerned about his wellbeing, but the fact of the matter was, Derek was passive aggressive with everything he did. Stiles needed to hear him say that he liked him or act on it without confliction. "I have to get this done." He looked down at his packet, that wasn't written on, except for his name on the top left corner.

Ruby stared at him while he sat silently. Stiles tried focusing on the work in front of him. It was useless. Derek crossed, no stayed on his mind. He wondered what would have happened if Derek had kissed him, other than he losing control of himself. He didn't know what it would have led to, but he knew where he wanted it to go. _His bed. _Like the night Derek marked him as his. He wanted to feel Derek on him again, thrusting.

"Your heart accelerated," Ruby said, breaking him away from his thoughts. "Stiles, by the way, you're not gay." She smiled and Stiles smiled at her unintentional rhythm.

"How so?" he asked.

"I see the way you look at Lydia and the way your heart fluttered when I kissed you." She explained.

"How do you know? I could be in transition from straight to gay," he came back with.

She laughed and leaned in. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and pulled him in, kissing him. His heart rate accelerated. She heard it and he knew it.

When she moved back, Stiles saw the pain in her face. She crossed a boundary. "Your heart accelerated."

"You caught me off guard," he replied quickly.

She found his reactions amusing. "I smelt lust on you. Lust for me. I know you like Derek and I knew you like Lydia." She twisted a curl in her index and middle finger, waiting for him to get what she was trying to say. When he didn't, she said, "you're bisexual, Stiles," shaking her head.

_I'm bisexual, _he thought. He shrugged his shoulders. He could deal with that. Not that he had a problem with being gay; it was Derek that confused him.

The day went by rather quick; lunch came and Stiles was hungry as usual. With Ruby's request, she and he sat with his friends. Stiles figured it was for them (Scott, Jackson, and Isaac) not to become suspicious of her.

They sat down at the table with the trays of food. They both got a bacon cheeseburger with fries. Stiles introduced her to everyone. They were nice and welcomed her with hello's and smiles. Lydia was civil and said hi.

It wasn't long before Isaac moved closer to her and started talking to her. She took a bite of her burger and smiled at Stiles, letting him know she was okay. Stiles felt a stinging in his chest. First, Isaac stole his best friend and now, he was swooping in on his new friend. Did he ever quit?

Stiles began eating his food in an angry manner. He phone vibrated in his pocket. He shoved four large fries in his mouth. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. Ruby sent him a text messaged: hey Red, he ain't getting a taste of my sugar.

_Red. That's what she calls me? _He thought. He moved his eyes away from his phone to her eyes. They laughed in silence. He replied: me either.

He glanced back at her. Ruby's face was hard as she stared down at her phone. Her brows furrowed, almost fusing together as one. Her chest expanded, breathing deeply. Stiles knew that look all too well. He witnessed it on Scott's face numerous times when he was threatened.

Ruby rose from the table like lava erupting from a volcano and rushed out of the cafeteria in a panic, leaving everything behind except for her phone that she carried in her hand. Stiles rose too. He was tempted to follow her, but when he started to get up, she shook her head for him not to follow before she let the doors close behind her.

"Rude," Lydia said as she picked at the remainder of her chef salad. Stiles rolled his eyes.

"That girl is strange," Jackson mumbled. Stiles turned back to his food and started eating, again. He brushed off what Lydia and Jackson said. Their opinions didn't matter. He finished his food a few minutes before lunch was over.

Stiles went to his locker. He found Ruby waiting for him. "So there's this party…well more like a rave I want to go to tomorrow," Ruby said casually like it was nothing. Stiles thought of the last time he went to a rave. Jackson was the Kanima and he killed someone. He wasn't sure if that would be a great idea.

"I don't…" Ruby cut him off. "Oh come on. It'll be fun." Ruby pulled on his arm and begged. "We can get our dance one and bring down the roof." She flashed him a flirty smile.

He couldn't say no to that. "Sure. I'll go with you."

As if appearing out of thin air, Lydia said, "the one on Old Mills Road?" Ruby rolled her eyes. Her stare hardened as they moved from Stiles to Lydia. "Yeah, that's the place." The irritation in her voice wasn't shy about not liking Lydia. Stiles wondered if it was a territorial thing.

Lydia saw Ruby's hard stare, but paid no mind to it. "Cool. Jackson and I will be joining." She invited herself. "Meet at Stiles at 9." Lydia turned around and walked away.

"Jealous much?" Ruby said, narrowing her eyes at Lydia as she walked away. Ruby wrapped her arm in Stiles.

The rest of the school day, Stiles thought of Derek. His mate. Even when he had class with Scott, who he dodged the entire hour. Ignoring Scott would be better, but that would only complicate things further like keeping Ruby's secret and his secret about being mates with Derek.

The thought to tell Scott about Derek and he were mates, but he knew how Scott would react. He didn't like or trust Derek and Derek felt the same. That thought brought on another. Would Derek mind if he told Scott? _Definite no, _he thought. Unless it was too get under Scott's skin, he was sure Derek would throw it in Scott's face.

He decided he wouldn't say a word to Scott. Not until he figured out what he felt for Derek and if Derek felt the same, because if Derek didn't, there was no point on mentioning it to Scott.

The next day came and Stiles wanted for Ruby, Lydia, and Jackson to meet at his house. He text messaged Ruby twice in the last hour and she hadn't replied. He actually hadn't heard from her since yesterday after school. He wanted to chill with her after school, but she was M.I.A.

He pondered the thought of losing her friendship as he spun himself in his computer chair. He didn't sit well with him. He was feeling lost nowadays. Well not lost, but alone. The only person he could talk to was Ruby.

And tied to every thought of Ruby was Derek. He didn't want to think of Derek right now, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. Derek was on his mind. He hadn't seen Derek since Thursday. Now that he thought about it; that wasn't sitting well with him. Two days was too long for him to be away from Derek.

"Enough of that bipolar sour wolf," he said out loud to myself. He grabbed his red hoodie and put it on. He looked at his phone. It was a quarter to 9 and no one was here.

He went downstairs and as he reached the bottom step, he heard a knock on the door. It was about time. He opened the door. Danny was standing on the other side. "Hey…Danny." Stiles said, raising his eyebrow.

"Didn't Jackson or Lydia tell you I was coming along?" He asked, sensing the confusion Stiles was putting out. "I'll take that as a no."

"Come in," Stiles said. He opened the door wider and stepped aside. Danny walked in. Stiles picked up on his Armani cologne. He closed the door and stared at Danny as he walked. His fair skin was nice and his arm muscles were on display by his black fitted t-shirt.

Danny sat down in his living room. Stiles followed him. They sat quietly. Danny kept looking at his phone. He was still hung up on his ex boyfriend. "How is your ex?" Stiles asked, trying to fill the silence.

"He's my ex," Danny stated. He pushed his lips together. Stiles hit a cord.

"We're friends, right?" He wanted to know because he was feeling short of them and a friend would mean he would keep it between them. He could handle the whispers that would come if this got out, but he wouldn't be able to if he was still confused himself.

Danny leaned back, getting comfortable. "Yeah, you could say that." It was clear they weren't, but it sounded like Danny was opened to the idea of them being friends.

"I've been…" He paused, not because he didn't know what to say or was hesitating, but because the words hooked themselves deep in his throat. Danny was gay, if anyone would understand and not pass judgment; it was him.

Danny's lips curved up in a crooked angle. He knew where this was going. "I've been having feelings for this…"-he cleared his throat, pushing the word out-"guy."

Danny's crooked smile vanished. It wasn't what he was thinking. "So you think you're gay…"

He cut Danny off. "I don't know. I have a deep affection for Lydia." Danny's eyebrows moved in a curious way. "I knew she's with Jackson and her relationship with him is beside the point."

"Ruby thinks I'm biles…I mean bisexual." Stiles growled in the back of his throat. Danny smiled hard, stopping himself from bursting into laughter at Stiles' mistake. Stiles had to admit, it was kind of funny.

"Well are you physically attracted to this guy?" Danny asked.

Yes, Stiles found Derek attractive. "Yes, I do. You've seen him." That was what he wanted to say, but he didn't answer.

Stiles heard another knock on the door. _Ruby, _he thought as he jumped and ran to the door. He opened. "Ru…"-he paused in mid-word when he saw Jackson and Lydia, but he recovered-"de…Jackson for…not telling me Danny was joining us."

"I didn't think it really mattered," Jackson said as he let himself in.

Lydia walked in. "So is everyone here?"

Stiles knew when she said "everyone" she was talking about Ruby. He answered her, "no, I'm waiting for Ruby." She let a judgmental noise escape her mouth as she walked into the living room.

Stiles ignored it and pulled out his phone. He text messaged Danny: _Please don't mention what we talked about. Please. _He walked into the living and leaned against the wall. Jackson sat on the armrest and Lydia sat down next to Danny. Danny was looking into something in his phone.

His phone chimed. He opened the text message Danny sent him: _Of course. _He sighed.

They sat silently waiting for Ruby to arrive. Jackson became impatient and Lydia grew annoyed. Stiles tapped his foot as he stared out the window, scratching the inside of his pockets, hoping for Ruby to show.

Twenty minutes passed and Stiles knew he couldn't keep everyone waiting. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and clapped them together. "I guess she's not showing."

In the quickness, Lydia got up from the couch. "Let's go everyone." She walked to Stiles and grabbed his wrist, pulling him to the door. Jackson and Danny followed behind them. Her action was really starting to bother him. Fine, she didn't have to like Ruby. She could at least be civil, but to deliberately try to keep her out of the picture was not cool.

Lydia opened the door. Ruby stood on the porch with her closed fist in the air, ready to knock. Stiles moved in front of Lydia. "Hey, what took you so long?" Stiles said to her.

She stepped back and twirled slowly, so Stiles may see what took her so long. She had on a black, strapless ruffled dress, a black belt with red stones, black heels-that brought her two inches taller than her-, and red and black accessories to match. She was occupied with finding something to wear. A girl's only valid reason for ever being late.

"Beautiful dress," Danny said. And Stiles agreed. Ruby looked absolutely stunning.

"I must agree," Lydia said as she looked Ruby up and down. The annoying tone in her voice told Stiles that she wasn't happy that she did.

They left his house. Ruby and Stiles went in his jeep and Jackson, Lydia, and Danny went in Jackson's Porsche. Stiles asked Ruby, "why didn't you return my calls?"

"Sorry, I had family responsibilities." She said nonchalantly. Stiles accepted it. After all, it was a justifiable reason. Stiles turned his focus back on the road. "Red, you never said anything about my outfit." She ran her fingers along one of the ruffles.

He was distracted by Lydia's demeanor towards Ruby. "You look stunning." She smiled big.

"You can't wear that hoodie inside," Ruby said.

"I don't plan to," he said.

They arrived at-yet another-abandoned warehouse. Ruby suggested they park closest to the exit. Just in case if something went wrong. Like if cops showed up and raid the place or the alpha James decided to make an appearance.

Stiles took off his red hoodie. "Nice. Express?" Ruby asked as she looked at his black jeans and white t-shirt with three black lines across his chest and black lion. Stiles nodded.

They got out of the jeep, waited for Danny, Lydia, and Jackson to get out of Jackson's Porsche. They walked towards the building. Ruby held onto Stiles' right arm as they walked.

Scott and Isaac hung out by the entrance, waiting for them. Stiles was surprised they were here and didn't meet at his house like everyone had. Isaac walked up to Ruby and put his arm around her shoulders. She still kept her hold on Stiles' arm. Scott waited for Stiles, Ruby, and Isaac to catch up. When they reached him, he started walking along on Stiles' free side.

"Hey," Scott said, awkwardly, not hiding that their friendship had strained.

Stiles did miss his best friend, but with his confusion with Derek and not knowing how to explain that to Scott, letting their friendship go slightly south seemed like the easier route to go. "Hey," Stiles said, using the same obvious awkward tone Scott used.

Everyone made small talk while they waited in line to pay a twenty dollars admission fee. Scott and Isaac had no problem talking about lacrosse. Danny and Jackson quickly and easily joined in the conversation.

Ruby and Stiles didn't pay attention to their discussion. They paid the admission and went inside. Ruby pulled Stiles forward down the long empty hallway, not waiting for the rest. Stiles knew it had more to do with Lydia than anyone else.

The rest caught in no time. When they reached to double doors, Stiles opened the left door and Isaac, desperately trying to get Ruby's attention, opened the right one, letting everyone in their group enter.

Music and lights hit them like the wind and flooded the hallway behind them. Stiles looked around the large room. Different colored light fixtures hung on the corners of the room and every pillar. The regular lights that were actually meant to light the room were replaced with black lights. There had to be at least 60 people here already and from the looks of the parking lot, he imagined more, lots more were coming. It was going to be a packed warehouse.

As Ruby pulled Stiles over to the right side, he looked around and located the restroom on the far left side. He didn't need to go, but just in case he or his friends had to go, he'd know where it was.

Ruby didn't waste time. "Come dance." She grabbed Stiles' hand and pulled him-again-to the dance floor.

Lydia followed them, pulling Jackson with her. They moved to the center and started dating. Stiles swayed side to side. He didn't have good rhythm. Ruby was the opposite. She moved her body to beat. She waved her hands in the air, moving them in sync with her body.

Jackson danced across from Stiles. He moved to the rhythm, not as great as Ruby, but he did well.

Stiles narrowed his eyes at Jackson, feeling jealous of him. There wasn't a thing this guy could do. Stiles thought maybe if he was all around talented like Jackson, Derek would be interested in him. He would be Derek's type. Or at least enough to have made a move by now. That was if Derek was truly interested.

Lydia pulled Jackson to her and then grabbed Stiles, pulling him away from Ruby, making a Stiles-Lydia-Jackson sandwich. Lydia faced Stiles and wrapped his arms around his neck. Jackson moved closer to Lydia and placed his hands on her waist, swayed to her movement.

Stiles looked behind him at Ruby. She had her arms crossed and eyes glaring at Lydia. He was impressed by how she kept herself in check. Scott's eyes would be illuminating amber.

The music changed to house music. Ruby smiled. She walked around Stiles and slid in between Lydia and him, pushing Lydia back. Jackson didn't notice. Lydia glared at her.

Ruby grabbed Stiles' hands and wrapped them around her. She started dancing on him, grinding their bodies together. Stiles didn't know what to do, but stand there. He liked how Ruby moved her no-lying-Shakira hips. Not willing to tolerate the image in front of her, Lydia pulled Jackson off the dance floor. Ruby out beat her.

A moment later, Scott and Isaac walked-dancing-to him and Ruby. They stopped next to them and started dancing with each other. They lifted their hands and fist-pumped. Then they wrapped their right arms together and stepped to the beat while nodding their heads as they circled each other.

Stiles saw the smiles on their faces. He felt a jealous string in his chest. Scott appeared to have forgotten him. He lost his best friend.

He leaned into Ruby, moving his lips to her ear. "I'll be right back." He didn't want to be next to them. She turned around and kissed him on the cheek. She flexed her jaw muscles. She crossed that line again.

As Ruby continued dancing by herself with no need for a partner because she was that good, Stiles walked away. He went into the creepy, worn down restroom on the left side. Scott advertising his new friendship was getting under his skin. He needed to get away.

Then a moment too soon, Scott _and _Isaac came in the restroom. _God, were they ever apart? _He thought.

"Are you alright?" Scott asked.

Stiles didn't answer. He knew if he did, they'd catch his lie. Instead, he walked over to the door and opened it, letting the music enter and drown out the sound of his beating heart. "I'm fine. It was just getting hot out there." He forced a smile.

They bought it.

They returned to the dance floor. Ruby was gone. Stiles looked around for her. No Ruby. He did, however, find Allison dancing with some guy and knowing Scott was behind him, Stiles walked in her direction.

When he reached her, he tapped her shoulder and moved on. When she turned around, she and Scott made eye contact. They froze like statuses.

Stiles smirked at his cleverness and continued walking towards the back, squeezing his way through the moving, sweating bodies. At the other side, he saw a brunette girl, wearing a black dress like Ruby's, exit the main room. He followed her out of the main room and into another hallway. "Ruby!" He shouted as she turned the corner down the hall. He found it odd that she didn't hear him. A werewolf had super hearing. "Ruby!" He shouted again as he rounded the corner.

The hallway led to a dead end and Ruby wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Ruby," he said again as he turned back around.

"No Ruby here," an older woman -with fair skin and red eyes-said with a large smile. His body tensed from the woman startling him. She grabbed him by the neck, enough to restrain him, but inflict no real pain.

It hit Stiles all at once. This woman was an alpha and she lured him away from his werewolf friends by pretending to be Ruby. So where was Ruby? He focused on Ruby, wondering if she was alright and not on the emanate danger this woman could wreak on his human self.

The woman removed her hair-that turned out to be a wig-and tossed it on the ground, letting loose, her long, straight, blonde hair. Her eyes changed from red to a lively shade of green that reminded him of a warm summer day. "Time to go for a walk." She didn't give him a choice; she pulled him to the end of the hallway he turned into. A door, he didn't see, was at the end.

He opened the door and entered. Inside, in the center of the moldy-smelling, cobweb covered, dirt and dust collecting room, Ruby laid-unconscious-on the floor. Trash cans surrounded the edges of the room. The woman let go of Stiles' neck. He looked at her. She nudged her head, smiling, in Ruby's direction.

Stiles hesitated at first. The woman was dangerous, but he wanted to see if Ruby was okay. Keeping his eyes on the woman, he edged his way to Ruby and bent down next to her. "Ruby," he said, blindly reaching down for her shoulder and-when he found it-pushing down on it.

He took his eyes off of the woman and looked at Ruby; she was waking up. "Stiles," she mumbled, opening her eyes. Stiles attended to her, by sitting her up.

"I'll distract the others," the woman said before she left. Stiles looked up to see who she was talking to. A black guy, taller than him with three inch dreadlocks, stood a couple feet away from Ruby and him.

His body was thin like Isaac's and as tall as him. He was dressed in a brown leather jacket, black and burgundy t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and brown boots. Stiles first thought of his guy was: what the hell is a clean guy doing in this dirty warehouse?

Ruby rose from the floor, rubbing her head. "James must have promised you something big to get you in this dirty place." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Who are you wearing? Calvin Klein?"

The guy ignored her. "Thought it would be easy with the moon stone to hide from us?" Stiles caught on there was more to them than Ruby shared.

"A girl can dream, right?" She shrugged her shoulders. She stepped in front of Stiles, ready to protect him. Despite the danger they were in, Stiles smiled at how Ruby was so protective of him. It made him wish Derek was like that with him. She glanced at him from over her shoulder. "Run when you get the chance."

"Haven says not to harm _her precious gem_," Arez stated. He rolled his eyes. Stiles assumed Haven was the woman's name. "She wants you, Ruby." His tone was like he was giving her a warning. Like as if they were more than enemies. "And you and I both know, what Haven wants, Haven gets."

Stiles moved closer to Ruby and whispered, "how do you know this guy?"

Arez crossed his arms across his chest and the left corner of his lips curved upward, giving Stiles a crooked smile. "He doesn't know." Ruby tensed up, stiff like a piece of wood. "We run in the same pack," Arez said to Stiles, but keep his eyes on Ruby. She lowered her head.

Stiles looked at Ruby. "I thought you said they were dead." Obviously she lied to him. Stiles stepped away from her.

Arez laughed aloud; his shoulders shook. "Ruby, you were always so dramatic." When she didn't speak, Arez rushed to Ruby and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her a foot of the floor. Stiles was startled by Arez; he stumbled back and fell down.

Arez's eyes were amber and his wolf fangs elongated. So were Ruby's; her claws were out and wrapped around Arez forearm.

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat. He was scared for his life and also for Ruby's, even she lied to him. This wolf Arez was bigger than her and seemed more aggressive. His mystery was what worried Stiles the most. The unknown could be something like getting beat up to murder. The range of his wake was too wide for his liking.

"Run Stiles!" Ruby growled.

Arez, still holding her, kicked her in her stomach and sent her off in the air. She hit a trash can, flipping over it.

When Stiles saw Arez was distracted, he turned around and booked it as fast as any human with no real good training could. He didn't want to leave Ruby behind, but she told him to run when he got the chance. He ran out the room and rounded the corner to the left. He jiggled on the doorknobs as he ran by the doors, seeing if any of them were unlocked. None of them were. He turned another corner.

"You can't run or hide little red riding hood," Arez said, loudly, taunting Stiles. Arez walked at a normal pace behind Stiles.

Stiles came to another dead end. He, then, realized why Arez wasn't running after him; he knew Stiles wasn't going anywhere. Stiles panicked as he looked around, trying to find a place to hide. It was an empty hall. Not that hiding would do him any good. Arez would be able to pick up on his scent.

Stiles couldn't explain why he mumbled Derek's name under his breath. Okay, he could explain, but he just didn't want to his mind distracted with his only real distraction in his life.

"Derek," he mumbled again, hoping their mating bond, somehow, allowed Derek to hear or sense that he was in danger. He didn't have time to see if it would work. He started thinking of another idea. _My phone! _He thought.

He reached into his front pocket. It was empty. He made a low growling noise in the back of his throat. It must have fallen out when he fell down from Arez startling him.

"I found you," Arez said in the darkness, illuminating his amber wolf eyes so Stiles knew where he stood. Several feet away, directly in front of him.

All Stiles could do was back himself up against the wall. _Oh my god! I'm going to die. I'm going to die a virgin! _He thought.

Arez strolled his way to Stiles with a mischievous smile on his face that made Stiles' heart beat jump. Stiles closed his eyes, waiting for Arez's fury. He thought his life would flash before his-closed-eyes at some point, but it didn't. The only thing that did flash was Derek. Oh how he desperately wished he was here.

"Any last words?" Arez said as he closed in on Stiles.

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat when he heard a loud howl that sent a familiar-fear installing-shudder through his body. _Derek. _He sighed. His savior was here.

Arez growled. He didn't turn back; he kept his amber eyes on Stiles. He raised his claws. Stiles flinched, turning to his right, trying to dodge Arez's claws. He had no luck. Arez still got him, clawing him on his shoulder blade and down his back.

Stiles screamed at the top of his lungs as pain coursed his body and blood seeped into his clothes. He fell down on his knees, then down on his left shoulder. The violent pain on his back blocked everything that unfolded next to him. He heard noises like someone hitting something or being hit by something and yelling.

"Stiles," he heard Scott say. Stiles didn't expect Scott to be the one to come to his aid. He definitely didn't want him to be the one. He wanted Derek.

"Scott," Derek's deep voice said. "Go help Jackson and Isaac." Stiles opened his eyes slightly. Scott was hovered over him and Derek glared at him with his red eyes. Derek growled.

Scott's face hardened. They made a deal to work together and Scott had to follow Derek's orders. Scott fixed his jaw muscles and left Stiles in the capable hands of Derek.

Derek lifted Stiles up into his arms again and carried him. "Derek," Stiles mumbled incoherently as his head hung back. Derek didn't speak. "Derek," he said again.

"Preserve your energy," Derek said with a growl. Stiles assumed he was still wolfed out.

_**One last thing, have a Merry Christmas!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's note: I apologize for the long delay. I have no excuse other than pure laziness. I just wasn't in the mood to type, but I've gotten back in the groove and I'm going to try to give you all sooner updates. **_

_**And for a heads up to all of you, this part will be ending soon. I do plan to continue the story. It will be a trilogy. So anyway, thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 8**

Stiles felt his body being lifted into the air by the world's softest feathers. He opened his eyes; his vision was blurry. A bright godly light shined down on him, forcing him to slightly close his eyes. _Am I dead? _He thought. _I'm dead, _he decided. Arez got him good and now he was dead.

He closed his eyes and started thinking if an angel would come for him or a demon. He had lied and "borrowed," but he never committed a heinous act that would be worth damnation or anything in the proximity.

"Stiles," an angelic voice said. He smiled. An angel came for him. Tears escaped through the corner of his closed lids. He held out his arms and embraced what was to come. Though he didn't want to leave his father, friends…and Derek, but what were the chances an angel would came for him again? He thought, _I'll be with my mom._

"Take me mommy," he said.

"Stiles," the angelic voice said his name again. "Just because latinos call latinas 'mami' that doesn't really mean they're calling them 'mom.'" He opened his eyes; his vision was still blurry, but he could see better than the first time he opened them.

He saw he was in a hospital room, on a hospital bed, IV in his hand, and Ruby at the foot of his bed. The morphine made him loopy. This explained why he felt like he was floating.

Ruby took a step around the bed. "Don't," Stiles said. She stopped. Shame washed over her face and she slightly lowered her head.

"Stiles, can I explain?" She asked.

Anger brewed inside him. He tried making a mad face, but the drugs didn't allow him. She took another side to his right side. "We were best friends," he said, resting his head back on the pillow. "How could you do that to me…Scott?" His feeling of betrayal mixed in with the others.

"It's Ruby," Ruby said.

"Scott, go away." Stiles closed his eyes. He pulled the pillow over his head. A moment later he heard the door open and close. In seconds, he dozed off to sleep…

…Stiles woke up hours later, remembering there so many stitches in his back. So many that he forgot. He raised his arm and felt a pull. A clear tube was taped to his wrist.

His father, Scott, and Lydia were in the room. They sat around him in the bed. "Hey everyone," Stiles said with a big cheesy smile on his face. It was clear the morphine was still kicking inside him. "How's it going?" He extended his left arm, reaching for Lydia, who was sitting in a chair on the right side of his bed. His wound wasn't hurting at all.

Lydia walked around to the IV. She glanced at it. "The morphine has taken over." She flicked the bag and returned to her seat.

His father cleared his throat, flexing his jaw muscles. "Son, I need to ask you some questions." Stiles smiled, incoherently. "What happened last night? How did you get that gash?" Scott opened his mouth to answer, but Sheriff Stilinski raised his hand like a king, signaling Scott to stop. "I want to hear this from my son." Scott swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I danced with Beacon Hills High's two hottest girls." He winked-more like blinked both his eyes-at Lydia. He laughed to himself, finding his lack of sex appeal humorous. He met Scott's gaze. Surprised not to see Isaac next to Scott, he said, "Yin, where's Yang?" The obvious jealously hung in his words.

"Sheriff, the morphine has him in a haze. Don't expect a correct response," Lydia said. She turned around and picked up her purse. She looked at Stiles, who still had a big cheesy smile on his face and still attempting to wink at her. "Maybe we should let him continue resting." She looked at Scott and the Sheriff. They both agreed with a simple nod and all exited the room.

Later that night, after the morphine wore off, for the most part, and after Danny and-to his surprise-Jackson visited him-who brought him a couple get well balloons-, Stiles ate his dinner while watching a rerun of The Walking Dead. Of course, only he could watch a person get eaten alive and have the capability to swallow food at the same time.

And he did it with a large grin on his face until he finished his food.

Since the morphine didn't control his body like it had earlier in the day, he was able to think of the events from the night before. There was a new alpha in town. Haven. She was threatening and slightly kind. There was also Arez; a beta. Both of them knew Ruby and not in the way Ruby led him to think.

That brought him to the jaw dropping moment of last night. Ruby omitted some truth. She failed to mention that she was part of James' pack. Logic told him he couldn't and shouldn't trust her, but he had to talk to her. To find out why she kept the secret? He just didn't understand why. And to know if all what she said was even true.

The emotionally part of him made things complicated. He trusted her and wanted to continue trusting her. Now that Scott and Isaac were inseparable, Ruby was all he had left. The only person he could be himself with. The only person he could talk about Derek with, but was there a friendship with Ruby left?

He lowered the volume on the TV, dimmed the lights, and carefully rolled over to his right side. The door opened. Stiles didn't move or say a word. He assumed it was just a nurse coming in to check on things. When he didn't heard a voice ask him the question "how are you?" He looked over his shoulder.

The heart monitor went off as his heart beat shut up from seeing Derek standing in the room with his hands in his leather coat, typical Derek. Derek took a step closer to him and his heart rate jumped. "Happy to see me," Derek stated as he glanced at the heart monitor.

Derek moved even closer. His legs touched the foot of the hospital bed. He furrowed his eyebrows. Stiles wasn't sure if he was mad-because Derek was all around intense-, confused, or conflicted. Possibly a mixture of the last two. "Can you move?" Derek asked as he stared, borderline glared, at Stiles' left side.

"I can." Stiles lifted his arm slowly, trying desperately to hide the pain from surfacing on his face and the fear of the wound reopening. "No biggie," he said with an obvious forced crooked smile.

"What happened?" Derek asked sternly. How wonderful. Stiles thought he came to visit him on personal reasons like because he was his mate. Wrong. He was here on business.

"A beta named Arez and an alpha named Haven…" Stiles trailed off for a second. He thought if he should tell him why they were here. That Ruby was the werewolf and she wasn't being honest about her ties with James and now Haven.

A wrinkle formed with confliction on his forehead as he stared blankly, hard, at Derek. While one part of him said to tell Derek and the other yelled not to say a word. Ruby and he were friends. Best friends almost. Like Scott and he once were. And he didn't want his friendship with Ruby to end like his and Scott's had.

He strongly believed Ruby was his friend. He owed her the chance to explain. And that he will do. "Umm…I was attacked by Arez." Derek knew that. He saved him.

"Stiles," Derek began to say when Stiles threw his left arm up to make him stop. He yelped from the skin tugging on the stitches. In a bizarre way, Derek moved to Stiles side. The way he moved wasn't bizarre, but more that he actually expressed, physically, desperation and worry.

Derek lifted the covers. Stiles spoke, "what are you doing?" He said softly. He didn't want to get the attention of others that may be walking near the door. Derek didn't answer. He pushed on Stiles' shoulder, rolling him on his right side and causing Stiles to wince in pain. He lifted the opening in Stiles gown and looking at his stitched up wound. He reached down and caressed his fingertips along the side of the stitching.

Stiles body stiffened at the warm touch of Derek's fingertips. His breathing became uneasy. Every part of his skin, that Derek touched, tingled. He softly panted. "Does it hurt?" Derek said. Stiles looked back at him. His eyes were red and filled with an alarming sense of fear and hints of rage swirling together like a vortex.

"No. Not right now, actually," Stiles said, stunned by his words. There wasn't any pain. Derek's eyes turned back to their usual light shade of green. He had made a decision and was going to act it out.

Derek removed his leather coat and tossed it on the chair on the right side of the bed. Stiles moved his eyes from Derek's eyes to his fitted shirt that covered his muscular chest. A lump lodged itself in Stiles' throat. Derek kicked off his shoes and removed his fitted shirt, exposing his bare smooth chest.

Stiles heart sky-rocketed and he knew Derek heard it. He swallowed the nervous lump. Derek pushed his way under the covers with him. He untied the gown Stiles was wearing and pulled it off, leaving him in his boxers. Stiles quickly, feeling too exposed for his own liking, semi-curled himself into a ball.

Derek wrapped his arm around Stiles and held him in a possessive embrace, but Stiles didn't mind. Why would he? Derek's flesh-baring body fit perfectly around Stiles, just like when they were in the woods and they bodies were pushed up against each other. He realized now that, that night, Derek's body felt uneven and hard to him because he didn't understand. He didn't ever think Derek's male body was what he wanted.

His face flushed with heat as blood rushed to his groin, filling his mind with dirty sexual thoughts, but what stop him for continuing, was his need to know why Derek got in bed with him, but didn't ask in fear that Derek would leave him. Again. He didn't want that. He also didn't realize how alone he felt until Derek showed up and laid next to him.

He realized that Derek's warmth took away the soreness on his back where his wound was. A smile crept onto his face. This moment in bed with Derek pushed away the betrayals, from Scott and Ruby, from his life. Nothing else around him mattered.

"Stiles, go to sleep," Derek said, giving an order in a drowsy tone as he nuzzled his face into the back of Stiles' neck, rubbing his nose up and down the nape of Stiles' neck.

He thought back to when Arez had him trapped. He mentally screamed for Derek and then Derek showed up. He had to know if it was because of their bond as mates. "Derek…" Derek growled. He wanted Stiles to go to sleep.

Stiles wasn't giving up. "Derek, how did you know I was in danger?" Derek still didn't answer. "Just answer this one question." Stiles tried to turn around and face Derek, but Derek held him still in his embrace.

Stiles pleaded once more. "Please."

Derek pulled Stiles into him more, fusing their bodies together as one. Derek's lips were now on the edges of Stiles' ears. "I got your text message." Stiles frowned; Derek didn't hear his calling.

Then he remembered his phone slipped out of his pocket when he fell down. Who could have sent Derek the text message? A slight smile surfaced on Stiles face when he realized who the person was. The only person it could have been. Ruby.

"Thank you for saving me. Again." Derek didn't say a word. Stiles assumed Derek was pretending to sleep. After the thought crossed his mind; he was sure that was it.

The curiosity was still on his mind. He wanted to know how things went with him and Scott, working together. "So how did Scott do? Did he take your orders well?" Derek moved his body a little. "Did he give you any trouble?" The more Derek ignored him, the more questions he asked, and the more curious he became. He asked the questions again as he moved his body, trying to get Derek's attention.

"Stiles," Derek growled.

"I know I said one question, but my mind is going and I want to know." His body started to fidget.

Derek still refused to answer his questions. Stiles laid there in Derek's embrace. Since Derek wasn't going to answer, his mind focused on the fact that he was in bed with Derek. Their skins touched each other, sharing warmth. Overwhelmed, Stiles would tremble now and then.

"Would you just go to sleep," Derek mumbled.

"I can't," Stiles said, looking back from the corner of his eyes. "You're just." Derek interrupted him, "I'm what?"

Stiles' face flushed with embarrassment. He felt his entire body heat up. He imagine he was a large red popsicle. He almost said "you're just too much." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

Derek raised his hand to Stiles' jaw and turned his head back to face his. He inched his face close to Stiles' as he gazed into his eyes. He kept the gaze for a couple minutes. "This only works if you close your eyes." Stiles stared hard for a moment. What did Derek mean?

When Stiles didn't close his eyes, Derek rolled his and moved in, closing the tiny space between their lips, connecting them. Derek's full lips were soft, but his technique was rough and Stiles didn't care. Derek was kissing him.

Stiles trembled inside Derek's embrace. Derek parted Stiles' lips with his tongue and caressed Stiles' tongue with the tip of his. The kisses started off small, but gradually grew. Their tongues slid against each other inside Stiles' mouth. Derek did most of the work while Stiles laid there in a comatose state of ecstasy. Their spits were mixed. Their breathing off and rough and Stiles' body trembled uncontrollably. Blood had rushed to their groins. Stiles could feel Derek's.

When Derek pulled his tongue out of Stiles' mouth, he pressed his lips against Stiles' and kept them there for a long minute before breaking away. He rested his head back on Stiles' neck and said, "now go to bed."

Stiles turned his head back and stared at the window with the biggest grin on his face. Their make out session was wonderful and he put his curious mind to rest, leaving him utterly speechless. There wasn't more for him to do, but go to sleep. He listened to his mate. He closed his eyes and placed his hand on top of Derek's and went right to sleep…

…The next morning, Stiles woke up, fully rested and ready to take on these werewolves. He looked at the chair on the right side of the room, next to the bed. It was empty. _Derek. _Derek's coat was gone. He rolled over, placing his arm on the other side of the bed. It, too, was empty. Typical. Derek left without a bye or a see you later. Something Stiles wished for. So he didn't feel like he meant nothing to Derek.

He laid there in bed, starting at the ceiling. He thought if Derek and he actually had sex. Would Derek get up in the middle of the night and leave him? He hoped not. That would make him feel like dirt and he didn't want to feel way. Especially from Derek of all people.

As the morning went on, the cafeteria "host" brought him his breakfast: potatoes, sausage, ham, and-extra-cheese omelet, and a side of large pancakes. He devoured it quickly.

His nurse, who by his father's request and Scott's, was Ms. McCall, came in the room to check on him and his wound. "How are you feeling now?" She asked as she checked his chart on his progress.

"Good now that I've had something to eat." Stiles flashed a smile.

She walked over to him, pulling a glove over her hands and asked him to sit up straight. She lifted the left side of the gown he was wearing and folded over his left shoulder. "Strange." She didn't say more. She continued touching the sides of where the stitches were. "Does that hurt?"

"No." Well he did feel a slight discomfort, but nothing excruciating like when Arez clawed him. "A little discomfort like it had been healing for a couple days already."

"That's exactly what it looks like." Ms. McCall unfolded his gown, covering his back. She removed the gloves and tossed them in the trash before returning to his side. "You're not a werewolf, are you?" She asked in a whisper.

"No, Ms McCall," he asked quickly. He did feel a little weird talking about werewolves to her, but happy that he didn't have to lie about it. Like he had to with his father. "If I were, they wouldn't have had to bring me to the hospital." She nodded, realizing the truth in his point.

"We'll need to keep you in here for another day." Stiles frowned, silently whining. He wanted to get out of here and speak with Ruby. "It's just so no one is suspicious of your unusual fast healing." He couldn't whine about that. They had secrets to keep. Though if the world find out about his unusual fast healing and test on him, they wouldn't find anything.

Before she left, Stiles asked her what story did Scott, because he knew Scott would, come up with to tell his father. She said Scott told his father that they went to an underground dance at a warehouse and that he went looking for Ruby and fell back on a piece of metal sticking out of a pillar. Ruby collaborated with Scott's story and Ms. McCall helped by adding that there were shards of rusted iron in his wound. She also told him, Jackson created scenery for his father. Jackson had scraped his own back against a piece of metal they found sticking out of a pillar, making it look like it was Stiles and with Lydia's assistances, they made a mess where he would have to be if he were Stiles' height to make it legitimate.

Hours later, his father showed up and brought him McDonalds. They had lunch together. His father got a chance to ask him what happened. Stiles answered his questions with more details, proving their story to be legit. His father dropped the subject. The nauseating feeling returned to Stiles' stomach, taking away his appetite. He didn't feel right lying to his father. His father kissed him on his forehead and took off, having to return to work.

He channel surfed the TV, trying to find something to watch. It was a failed attempt. So he decided to take a nap, but he found himself lying in bed with his eyes open. The somnolent didn't take over his body as he would have hoped. He tossed and turned for a long time. He couldn't sleep because something was on his mind. _Derek_ was on his mind. Also what Ms. McCall told him about his usual fast healing wound.

He wondered if he healed fast because he was Derek's mate. Derek told him he didn't get any upgrades. Then what would have caused the wound to heal so fast? Or maybe he just had good genetics? That was unlikely.

He heard a knock at the door. Everyone he knew had already come to visit. Even Ruby. "Come in," he said. His voice was raspy. He cleared his throat and spoke again, "come in."

The door opened and a fair colored face came in, holding a plastic bag in one of her hands. He sat up. He was wrong. There was only person he forgot. Allison was here. "Hey, Stiles," she said awkwardly playing with the ends of her long black hair that was tied in a ponytail. He didn't expect to see her here. Especially after she separated herself from the group.

"Hey," Stiles said. They stared at each other in silence. He didn't know what to say to her and she looked like she was having trouble with saying something as well.

She took a deep breath and exhaled before she spoke. "Why are you getting involved with their mess?" Her jaw muscles flexed as she held back the frustration inside her.

"Because I can help." He didn't understand why she wouldn't. She had a very useful skill and she refused to utilize it. He couldn't explain why, but he opened up to her. "Because I feel left out. No one gives me attention."

"Don't play that card, Stiles. Everyone is giving you attention," She said with an annoying tone. She didn't hide it or try to. "The one real good thing about stepping away from you guys is I got to see what I didn't before." A lump built up in his throat. "Scott, though he I always with Isaac, is there for you. He followed you into the bathroom that night." He pressed his lips together. She knew they were there and she was watching them. He silently agreed with her; Scott did check on him. "Lydia keeps trying to hang out with you. Even, self-centered Jackson came by to check on you." Her voice sounded more ignited. "But you don't really want their attention. You want a specific person's attention."

It hit him; she knew the conversation they had earlier this week, about which he had mixed feeling for, was Derek. "You know?" He had to hear her say it.

"Derek." That was all she had to say to confirm what he thought. Her face hardened. She still hated Derek for the death of her mother. "Why him?" She asked. Her eyes were glossy.

"I don't know." And he didn't know exactly. It was what he had been trying to figure out. Yes, Derek marked him as his mate. Yes, Derek kissed him and he got an erection from the kissing. But there were a few things Stiles still wanted from Derek. Was what they had just physical? Because lets face it; Derek hasn't had a girlfriend in a long time. As far as Stiles knew, he hadn't and the only one he knew Derek dated was Allison's aunt Kate.

Or was there more? To be honest, he still didn't know what he was feeling. Derek had total control of the situation. He did know he wanted to explore, whatever this was, that was going on between them.

"He dangerous," Allison said. She pulled out a teddy bear on the table next to the bed. It was a cute bear with a crouch, one arm in a swing, and one leg in a cast that said "get well."

"I know this." A hint of irritation came out in the tone he used.

"Then why do you want him?" She asked. Her hands curled into fists and the veins in her arms pulsating on the surface of her skin, ready to explode.

Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. This was the first time she had angered him. She had no right to ask him that question. She was with Scott, even against her parents' wishes. Sure, Scott wasn't Derek, but with Scott still not in complete control of himself during a full moon, he was just as dangerous at Derek.

"Whether you two are together or not, you're his anchor," Stiles stated. She was. She probably would always be. "What if I'm that for Derek?" The question wasn't directed for her, but to himself. He paused and thought. _What if I am Derek's anchor?_ He thought. Derek did show signs of affections. The night in his room when their lips were hovering dangerously close and last night.

A small grin surfaced. He was already Derek's mate. The realm of possibility of he being Derek's anchor wasn't as preposterous as to maybe a week ago. He realized how so much had changed in the last week.

"Don't be foolish, Stiles," Allison said. He glared at her for a moment. Realizing the conversation wasn't letting up, she decided to end it there. "And when did you get into guys?" She changed the subject.

He liked the way she worded her question. She didn't just assume he was full on gay like most people would automatically think. But her choice of good words didn't change the fact that she angered him. "I've been curious for a while." He left it at that. The anger still burning bright in his words.

"Maybe I should leave," she said. Stiles didn't interject. He felt maybe she should go. She slumped her head. "See you around."

Stiles looked out the window as she exited the room. She got him all worked up. He wished Derek was here to calm him down. Unfortunately, he didn't have his phone. He actually didn't know where it was.

Later, Ms. McCall came in and took off the IV. She informed him that he'll be leaving home tomorrow morning and that he had to keep up pretenses. She was going to prescribe his some placebos. He had to pretend he was in pain. That wouldn't be as hard for him as he already planned to milk this for what it was worth. And if he felt any real pain to just take some over the counter pain relievers.

Sheriff Stilinski paid his son a visit. They ate and watched TV together. They shared small talk, but that was it. Stiles felt undeserving of his father's care. The lies he had given his father in the past seemed to pile up in front of him every time he was with him. It put Stiles on the edge. So much, that he was forced to end the visit.

He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and stretched as he pretend to be sleepy. It didn't take his father long to be fooled by him. Of course, that made him feel worse. It was like lying to his father became a second nature for him. He slowly laid himself back, not irritating the stitches. His father gave him a peck on the cheek and went on his way.

Again, Stiles had trouble going to sleep, but eventually he dozed off…

…_He sure does look peaceful sleeping. I miss my Batman, _a vixen-like voice said. She walked around the bed and caressed Stiles' forehead.

_He isn't even Alfred status, _a deep voice said, making fun of Stiles. He thought of the voices. They sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He heard a growl. _Hey, I've told you. He's a great Batman. _

His mind jumped with electricity. There was only one person that called him Batman. Erica. Boyd and she were in his hospital room. He sat up, opening his eyes and winced in pain from moving too quick. He gently placed his hand on his back, pressing down a little, hoping to stop the stinging feeling as he looked around the lit up room. It was morning and Erica and Boyd weren't in here. Was it a dream? It had to be.

_**Last note: so apparently, fan-fiction has its own lingo. Would someone be kind and give me a crash course of what everything is. Please and thank you. **_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Author's note: I'll start off with sorry I took long. If you feel that I'm taking to long…I give you permission to harass me with PMs, telling me to hurry up. I want to give a thanks to Ink-Reader-18 for an idea. Thanks again for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Enjoy. **_

**Chapter 9**

Sheriff Stilinski picked up his son and took him while his friends were at school. The drive home was a blur for Stiles as he mind was clouded with what he had to do-lie to his father. He couldn't wait for his father to go into work. Not because he didn't like being around his father, but so that he didn't have to lie more than necessary.

They arrived at their home. His father grabbed his belongs and gifts (bears, cards, and balloons) first, then went around the car and helped his son out and into the house. As Stiles went up the stairs to his room, he did what Ms. McCall told him to do. He pretended to struggle so his father helped him all the way to his bed. Lying twisted a nut in his stomach and when his father offered to stay home, Stiles told him he'd be okay by himself and that in a couple of hours Scott would be over. Not happy about leaving his son, the Sheriff pecked his son on the forehead, told him he loved him, and left, but not before tossing him his phone. "Ruby dropped this off."

Stiles caught his phone. He noticed right away the battery was low. The next things he noticed were the missed calls and unread text messages. He checked his text messages first.

04/14/12 10:23pm Derek: On my way.

04/14/12 10:34pm Lydia: Stiles where the hell are you?!

He went and looked at the text messaged he received from Ruby.

04/15/12 7:49am Ruby: I'm so sorry. If we can talk, I can explain everything.

He stared the message for a minute. He decided he wouldn't respond, letting Ruby soak in her guilt for a little longer. He exited out of the inbox and checked his missed calls.

04/14/12 10:25pm Lydia

04/14/12 10:26pm Lydia

04/14/12 10:26pm Lydia

04/14/12 10:27pm Danny

04/15/12 12:05pm Ruby

He got up from his bed and plugged his phone into his charger. He took off his shirt slowly, making sure it didn't get stuck on any of the stitches. He dropped it on floor as he walked out of his room. He entered the bathroom and flipped the switch, turning on the lights. He turned to the right just enough to see the long row of stitches, starting at his mid-shoulder blade and run down to his waist. It looked almost completely healed. The corner of his lips curved upward, grinning. Derek's kiss must have healed him. He leaned against the sink and sighed. Derek kissed him. What a perfect moment.

Stiles returned to his room. Ms. McCall told him to get rest and after her shift, she would be over to check on him. He spent the next three hours watching TV, eating, and sleeping. When he woke up from his nap with empty chip bags surrounding him, too lazy to get up and throw them away, he saw Scott sitting at the edge of his bed, watching TV. Scott didn't notice Stiles had woken up. So Stiles thought it would be funny to scare his friend. He slowly sat up, inhaled deeply, and released the air with a loud screech.

Scott jumped off the bed and turned around, facing him all wolfed out. "What the hell!" Stiles just laughed. He made a mental note to try it on Derek.

"How did you get in?" Stiles asked as he got out of bed, feeling the urge to pee. He walked towards the door.

"The window," Scott answered.

Stiles thought, _the way Derek always came in. _After he finished, he washed his hands, and returned to his room. Scott pulled out some papers. He brought Stiles his homework assignments. He grabbed them and placed them on his computer desk. He decided to do them tomorrow morning since he wouldn't returning to school until Wednesday.

He wasn't sure if Scott wanted to hear this, but he said it anyway. "Allison came to visit me." Scott looked at him, keeping his facial muscles calm, but his eyes betrayed him. Stiles could see the yearning in them.

"Yeah…" Scott tried sounding nonchalant. "What did." He paused and sniffed the air. His eyes flashed amber. Stiles knew he smelt another wolf and instantly thought of Isaac.

Sure enough, Isaac came in through the window. To Stiles' surprise, he didn't come alone. Peter-Derek's uncle-and, of course, Derek followed in last. Scott walked out of the room, leaving Stiles alone with a wolf he didn't like, one he found to be creepy, and lastly, the one he couldn't stop thinking about.

Stiles kept his eyes down while he sat in his bed. He feared that if he looked at Derek, the rest wound notice. After a minute, he built up the courage once to glance at Derek. He found Derek staring back at him. He felt his face flush with heat and he could feel sweat start to accumulate on the edges of his face.

Thankfully, Scott returned with Lydia and Jackson. Lydia glanced around Stiles' dirty room. Wrinkles formed on her beautiful forehead as she silently judged him. Once she was done judging his room, she walked over to Derek. Stiles couldn't help but think of what it would be like to have them go head to head for his affection. He brought an almost devilish grin to his face.

She grabbed the computer chair, rolled it over to Jackson, on the opposite side of the room. She scanned his closet and pulled out a clean shirt. She dusted the chair off before finally taking a seat. She dropped the shirt on the floor, adding more to his already messing room.

Stiles stared at Lydia for a long moment. Her strawberry blonde washed over her shoulders like the waves crushing over the coastline, untamed and beautiful. He pulled himself away from Lydia's captivating beauty and turned his focus to the obvious fact that he was in the middle of a meeting or an intervention. One, whichever one it was, he didn't know was going down.

Stiles thought he'd make a joke. "Please don't tell me I'm on intervention." Scott grinned. Everyone else didn't find it musing in the least bit. Lydia rolled her eyes.

Peter cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "Derek has ordered a search group. He's picked Isaac and Jackson to join me."

Jackson folded his arms. "I am not part of his pack."

Lydia smacked his arm. "You got the bite from Derek. That makes you part of his pack whether you like it or not." Derek glanced at her with respect. She understood what the ranks were and she wasn't even a werewolf.

"Fine, I'm in," Jackson mumbled, not hiding that he wasn't happy about it.

"Stiles tell us about these two new werewolves," Derek ordered.

Stiles just stared at him when he answered as if Derek was the only person in the room. "The alpha is a woman." Stiles knew by the confused look on everyone's faces that he had to clarify. "James is the alpha that first appeared."

"So now we have two alphas to worry about?" Scott asked.

"Yes, McCall. Thanks for keeping up with us," Jackson said annoyingly. He rolled his eyes. Lydia pulled on his arm. He let out a low growl and kept quiet the rest of the meeting.

Stiles continued, "this alpha is named Haven. She's white, late 20's, blonde hair, green eyes, a little taller than me, and beautiful." He felt foolish for saying she was beautiful, but it was a fact and it helped with describing Haven. He moved on to Arez. "Then there is a beta named Arez. He was tall, slender, and black with dreads."

"Why were they there?" Isaac asked. "How did they get you alone?"

_Keep Ruby's secret, _he thought. "Haven lured me away by posing as Ruby. She must have seen me with her." He covered his tracks well. The others appeared to believe what he said. He omitted the crucial part of his story: Ruby was the werewolf that brought these packs to town.

"Who's Ruby?" Derek asked with an unusual roughness in his voice. It left Stiles stunned. All eyes found their way to Stiles. He didn't answer due to the lump lodged his throat from the fact that he would be talking about the girl who kissed him.

When Stiles didn't answer, Jackson took it upon himself to answer. "Well apparently, she's Stiles' girlfriend." He had a grin on his face, slightly laughing.

Stiles turned bright red and dug his face into his hands. He so wanted to punch Jackson in the face again like he did the night when Peter trapped them in the school. He took a deep breath and covered his tracks again. "She isn't my girlfriend." He shot Jackson an evil glare. "She was my date for the race. Nothing more."

Stiles looked at Derek; he stood more detached than ever. What Jackson said affected him. It definitely did; Stiles was convinced. In most situations, this would have made Stiles happy, but it didn't. It only left him feeling sour inside. Seeing Derek detached meant he was upset about something and Stiles didn't want to be the one that made him feel that way.

"Well we should be going," Peter interjected the silence. He eyed Isaac and Jackson. Isaac pounded knuckles with Scott. While Jackson handed his keys and belongs to Lydia. He kissed her on the lips.

Stiles would normally feel jealous, but he didn't this time. He felt genuinely happy for them. He shrugged his shoulders and quietly laughed.

Isaac, Jackson, and Peter left his room and took off through the front door. "I have a ton of homework to do," Lydia said. She glanced over at Stiles. "Do you need me here?" He shook his head. He didn't need her here. She said bye and left, taking Jackson's Porsche.

Stiles wanted to talk to Derek. Alone. All he had to do was get Scott to leave. He quickly tried thinking of ways. Throw a tantrum. Pretend to be sleepy. Get Derek to… Yes, that was what he could do. Get Derek to ordered Scott away. They were working together. He rolled over on his bed and picked up his phone. He text messaged: _We need to talk. Get rid of Scott. Now!_

Stiles looked at Derek after he sent the text message. Derek just stood in his place for a moment with his hands in his leather coat pockets. Why wasn't he checking his phone? Stiles looked at his phone. It said the text message sent.

He looked at Scott. Only Derek could make him leave. _What the hell! _

"Scott," Derek said, finally. "You can leave. I will watch over him." He walked over to the other side of the room and sat down on the chair against the wall.

Scott stared at Derek for a moment and then moved his eyes to Stiles, looking at them suspiciously. Stiles' heart raced, thinking if Scott was catching on to the "thing" that was going on between Derek and him. Derek growled, snapping Scott out of whatever curious thought that had captured his attention.

"Maybe I'll join Peter on the hunt." Scott grabbed his book bag. "Don't forget to do your homework," he said. Stiles said thank you and Scott flashed him a friendly smile before he left Stiles all alone with Derek.

Stiles walked over to his door. He stood by it and waited to hear the front door to close. When it did; he closed his bedroom door. He returned to his bed in a shy fashion. He was alone with Derek. He couldn't quite understand why, after all this time, he felt overwhelmed. Derek has been in his room a handful of times.

As usual, the cosmos cued in the silence, leaving the noise that came from the television. Scott left it on AMC; an episode of The Walking Dead was on. Stiles wanted to start up the conversation of what happened between them at the hospital, but he didn't know how to start. Truthfully, he didn't want to be the one that started it.

"So how's your back?" Derek asked, breaking the silence and easing Stiles' mind.

Stiles spoke, sounding desperate, "it's great. Thanks for patching me up." Derek didn't say a word, just slightly nodding his head. Now that Derek brought it up; Stiles continued it in the direction he wanted it to go. "How did the wound heal so fast…was it the kiss?" Heat rushed to his cheeks when he said "kiss."

"What kiss?" Derek asked cold-heartedly as he relaxed his body on the chair.

Stiles just stared at him as his stomach knotted itself. He couldn't believe Derek was pretending the kiss they shared didn't happen. It was perfect and down right hot for Stiles. He wasn't going to forget it if that was what Derek wanted and he wasn't going to let Derek get away from admitting what he did. "You kissed me." They locked eyes.

"I didn't kiss you, Stiles." The tone he used said different words to Stiles. It said _I would never kiss you. _His breaking fell off track. He felt dumb.

"You were dreaming. I did get in bed with you, but I didn't kiss you." Stiles felt the needles return to his cheeks as he became embarrassed for ever thinking it was possible.

He dug his head in between his knees, wishing he could take back this conversation. But what could he do? The conversation was started and the damage was done. There wasn't much for him to do, but continue on. And so he did. "How did you heal me?"

"We're mates and whenever the alpha's mate is injured, the alpha can heal their mate with the simple touch," Derek answered like he was giving a speech to a college course.

Stiles thought back to the last week. That would explain why all those times Derek kept touching him. He was trying to heal him. His lips stretched into a smile. His mate healed him.

Stiles, then, remembered the night he fell on his shoulder. "Why didn't you heal shoulder?"

"Because we weren't mates at the time," Derek replied solemnly. Stiles wasn't sure if he sounded that way because he hated himself for not being able to help him or because he was his mate.

Of course, it made Stiles feel like crap again. "Our skins have to be touching for the healing to happen. My warmth is what caused your cells to repair themselves at a fast rate."

Stiles sat back in his bed, not saying another word to Derek. That wasn't a difficult thing to do since Derek didn't speak to him the remainder of the time he was over. The Sheriff came home an hour later. Stiles got up and walked over to the door. "Dad?" He said.

"Yes, son," his father replied back.

Stiles turned back around. "I'm going to…distract…my." He stopped when he realized Derek wasn't in his room. Stiles would have liked a bye or something to let him know he was leaving. Some common courtesy.

He spent the rest of his day in his room. He did come out when he had to eat. He chatted with his father, but made it short. He returned to his room and did his homework.

He sat in his bed, thinking about his conversation with Derek. The kiss, according to Derek, didn't happen. He lifted his hand and caressed his lips. It had to be real because it felt real, too real, and denying it would be like an act against god.

But it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for him to dream something up. He had done it before. He even had a dream of Erica and Boyd. He woke up from that one with a strong feeling it really happened.

He curled into a ball under his covers. He wanted it to be true. It was his first real kiss. Something he always thought about. Yes, Ruby did kiss him and it felt great, but it wasn't the same. He wanted a kiss from Derek and he got it; or so he thought he did.

Just when he thought he made a step forward into manhood, it was all in his head. An unfulfilled fantasy-dream that only appeared to be a nightmare was tormenting him, endlessly. He wanted to feel touched, to feel wanted, and to feel needed. Not just as a son, a brother, a cousin, nor a friend, but something more. He wanted to feel loved.

But was any of this what he wanted from Derek? The man was a brute and he was flipping coin of good and bad. Stiles could never tell what side the coin landed on. But when he was good, he was good. Derek made sure he got home safe. Derek could have left him to drive himself home, but he didn't.

Stiles closed his eyes. Thinking of Derek took up a lot of his time and he didn't get nowhere with it. He decided to just go to sleep. And that he did…

…Wednesday, Stiles woke up, eager to go to school. He was tired of being in his house. He needed fresh air and get into some new, but old surroundings. He sat up and stretched, not feeling any pain. He ran his fingers down along the left side of his back. He left a long scar line where the wound closed thanks to Derek.

Yesterday, before heading into work, Melissa came over and removed the stitches. He still had to pretend he was hurting.

Stiles got ready for school. It didn't take much time; he was actually eager to go and he kept reminding himself that it was strange for him to be eager. He picked up his finished homework and tossed them into his book bag. He raced downstairs to the kitchen grabbed two apples and out the front door. "Dad, I heading off to school now."

"Be careful, son," his father shouted from the upstairs.

Stiles bit into one of the apples and held it in his mouth while he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his keys, unlocked the door, and got inside. He turned on the engine and sat in his jeep. He chewed the piece of apple he bit off like a starving animal. He quickly took three more big bites, leaving the core bare.

"Hello," Stiles heard a fuzzy voice said. With his mouth full of apple pieces, he nervously looked around him. There was no one in sight. He shook his head. His mind was playing games with him.

"Stiles," the voice said again.

This time he heard where the voice came from: his pocket. He pocket dialed someone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His phone called Ruby. "Stiles." He stayed quiet, mainly because he wasn't ready to talk to her. He didn't know what he wanted to say.

"Stiles, I know you're still on the line, so I'm going to talk." He signed. He could hear the strain in her voice. She was really kicking herself for lying. "I know I lied. I'm sorry. But there's more to this story. Could you just give me the chance to explain everything? And if you still don't want to talk to me, that's fine. I just rather you base your decision off the truth than speculation."

He did decide to hear her out before making his decision on whether to end the friendship or not. He cleared his throat and he heard her sigh. "Today after school." He ended the call.

He tossed his phone on the passenger seat and drove to school. The drove consisted of only Ruby. He wanted to know how exactly her and Arez ran in the same pack and what Haven wanted with her. More importantly, why did she lie to him? He did what she asked. He kept her secret and even when that meant breaking his other friendships. Not once, did he do anything that showed her she couldn't trust him.

He arrived at school. As he walked up towards the building, Ruby appeared next to him with her hair pulled back in to a pony tail and grabbed his arm. Stiles' body stiffened. Before he could say something, she whispered, "just keeping up pretenses." She smiled, looking forward.

Scott approached them with Isaac. They walked into the front entrance. Stiles just stared at Ruby. He liked it, having her on his arm, his friend, but the reality, their friendship was on thin ice.

He put a smile on to continue this act that she wasn't a werewolf. Once inside, they parted ways. Scott and Isaac took off one way and Stiles and Ruby went the other. Upon reaching Stiles' locker, Ruby broke away from him. He assumed she was going to her locker. Lydia and Jackson showed up at his locker. He exchanged hellos with her, while Jackson stood quietly as he took surveillance of the hallway, glancing at everyone that walked by like they were potential threats to Stiles.

Jackson's actions threw Stiles off. He was actually taking Derek's order to protect him seriously. Whether Stiles liked it or not, Jackson was his friend or frenemy.

Stiles closed his locker after he grabbed his books for the first two classes. As he began to walk away, he felt a small hand grip around his wrist, stopping him. He looked back. It was Lydia.

She spoke, "wait one second."

At that moment, Scott appeared without Isaac, surprisingly. They were taking shifts watching over him. Stiles was having mixed feelings about this. "So everyone is playing CIA agents," he said sarcastically. "What next?" You're going to hold my hand while I pee?"

"You'd like that, would you?" Jackson retorted. Stiles' body stiffened. He wasn't ready to have the conversation of his sexuality with his friends. At least not with these particular friends. And anything that crawled around the subject made him uncomfortable.

Lydia glared at Jackson as she pulled him away from Scott and Stiles.

"We had a meeting. Derek told us to keep you in our sights," Scott said as they walked to Stiles' first class.

Stiles stopped. He stared at Scott for a moment. When did they have a meeting? Why wasn't he invited? Furthermore, who was this "we" he was talking about? He blinked and started walking again. Scott followed behind him closely. "Who, when, and why wasn't I invited?" Stiles asked. His tone came out rough. He was irritated that he was left out.

"You know the wolves and Lydia." Stiles growled, like he actually growled. Scott pulled back a step, giving him space. Stiles was jealous and angry that Lydia was there and he wasn't. He knew about werewolves a lot longer than any of them. Even before Scott knew what he was.

Scott continued, "at my house and you weren't invited because…well I don't know why. I was just told everyone was coming over. If you want to know why you weren't invited, then ask the warmhearted and coolest alpha Derek." Scott spat out sarcastically, placing his hands on his chest over his heart like a teen girl falling head over heels for Justin Beiber.

"Well you don't have to walk me to class. I'm not your girlfriend," Stiles stated nonchalantly. Some jocks walked by and overheard; they burst into laughter. Stiles felt his face heat up.

They continued walking to Stiles' class. Scott stopped him when he saw Ruby waiting by the door to the class. "Is everything okay? You seem a little out of it." He gave Stiles a worried gaze.

Stiles was fine, for the most part. He just had a lot of things on his mind. _Ruby and Derek. _"Other than not having a love life, I'm just fine." He said in a numb tone.

He quickly walked a head, leaving Scott hanging. He approached Ruby, said "hi" to her, and gently pushed her in the classroom without saying bye to Scott.

As the class went on, Ruby made small talk with him. Well she managed to have one small conversation with him. "Did Derek heal your wound?" She seemed to know more about this mating thing than Derek did.

He glanced at her, catching her gaze for a second before returning his eyes back to the chalkboard. He felt torn. A part of him wanted to blurt out everything to her like he had before. She was easy to talk to and the other part wanted to give her the deadly glare for lying to him. Being evil to someone wasn't in his nature. So he gave in and answered her question.

"Yes, he did," he whispered low, knowing only she could make out what he said. He cut the conversation off there. He would continue this after they talked. He didn't want to get more attached to this friendship if it was going to end. So he stayed silent the rest of class.

The day continued forward and after every class Stiles, didn't have with Jackson, Lydia, Scott or Isaac, one of them would be waiting for him outside this classroom.

When he came out of his final class before lunch, Jackson was outside his class, waiting. He looked irritated. Stiles didn't push a conversation. They silently walked to his locker and then made a detour to Jackson's locker.

As Jackson switched out his book, Stiles text messaged Derek: get over to the school. We need to talk. He hit send and stuck his phone back in his front pocket. They walked to the cafeteria. Stiles' mind kept going back to phone and just as Jackson walked through the double doors to the cafeteria, Stiles felt his phone vibrate. Derek replied: outside parking lot.

"I'll be right back," Stiles murmured. Jackson didn't hear him. Stiles quickly took off to the other side of the building. He looked over his shoulder to see if Jackson or someone was following him. No one was.

When he reached the door, his lungs stung, trying to grip the oxygen long enough to get in his blood and ultimately to the rest of his body. He pushed the door open. At the end of the path of steps that were in front of him, Derek's black camaro was parked. The driver window rolled down. Derek's light green eyes peered out. Stiles walked up to the car.

"Stiles, where are you going?" He looked back; Scott was standing at the door.

"I'll be right back," Stiles said as he walked around the camaro and got into the passengers seat. Scott stood there dumbfounded and frustrated, possibly jealous. Stiles hoped it was jealously.

The corner of Derek's lips slightly curved up. Derek put the gear into drive and took off. He drove south. Stiles assumed it was because the first times they drove north together, James-followed by his wolves-came into our lives and Derek was trying to avoid that. Stiles eased his mind by asking what he wanted to know. "Why wasn't I invited to the meeting?" As usual, he quickly asked another question before Derek had the chance to answer. "And why was Lydia there?" He turned his body the Derek and stared at him, waiting to hear his reply.

Derek kept his eyes on the road like a good driver would do. "I didn't invited you because you're suppose to be injured remember? We can't have you walking around. We need them to think they got to us and when they least expect it, we attack." Stiles moved his stare forward onto the road, satisfied with Derek's response. He just didn't see why they couldn't have told him. Though, Scott did mention it without Stiles asking the question. "Lydia was there because she called me for the meeting," Derek answered his second question. That made sense to him.

Stiles leaned an inch or two closer to Derek. "When did you give Lydia your number?" He asked, letting all the jealously come out and cling to his words. His stare even hardened.

Derek, whether he noticed Stiles reaction or not, simply and calmly said, "I didn't give her my number. She just called me."

Feeling dumb for overacting, he leaned back. They sat in silence as Derek drove. Stiles leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. The car ride relaxed him so much, he dozed off. He had become comfortable around Derek.

Stiles was woken by Derek some time later. He stretched and then, rubbed his eyes before opening them. His vision was blurry at first, but then cleared up. Derek was holding a McDonald's bag. Stiles looked at the clock on the car stereo. Only ten minutes had passed. His power nap refreshed him. He glanced out the tinted window; they were back at the school parking lot.

"Here. Eat." Derek handed him the bag of food.

Stiles was hungry. He grabbed the bag and opened it. Inside he found a Big Mac with large fries. "Thanks," Stiles said as he stuffed like six fries in his mouth. He stopped and pulled the napkins out of the bag. He opened them up and laid them on his lap. He ate over it. Derek's car was nice and clean. He didn't want to make a mess.

Derek just sat there, witnessing Stiles devour his food. He removed the paper wrapping on the straw and put it in the large soda he got for Stiles. He handed it to him. Once Stiles grabbed it, Derek leaned the driver seat back and laid down, staring at the roof of his car.

Stiles just stared at him while eating the remainder of his fries and taking big sips. Derek let down his guard in front of him. To give himself a reason to stare at Derek, he started a conversation. "So when do you plan to attack James and Haven?"

Stiles leaned his seat back a little. He laid down on it on his side, keeping his eyes on Derek. It was almost like they were in a bed together and when Derek turned his body to Stiles, meeting his gaze; it was like they were in bed together. Stiles heart slightly accelerated. In bed with Derek meant Derek and he were close and intimate.

Derek answered, "I don't know really. My uncle has a few ideas to bring them out." His face hardened. He obviously didn't like the idea.

Stiles wanted to help. So much that he offered himself up. "Couldn't we use me as bait?" He asked. Though, as the words left his lips, he tried to make it sound like a suggestion and not a question.

Regardless, to Derek, it sounded stupid of him to say, suggestion or question. "Not going to happen." His lips were pushed together in a straight line, Stiles questioned if Derek even spoke.

Stiles gazed at him with a blissful smiled on his face and he didn't care that Derek could see it. Nothing could kill this moment. Derek wouldn't risk his life. The strange feeling in the pit of his stomach returned and this time he knew what it was. It was butterflies. His body felt light.

In his moment of paradise, Stiles noticed his lunch hour was about to end. He grabbed his book bag and the McDonalds bag, ready to leave. He stared at Derek, wondering if he should stay with him and skip the rest of the school day. Would Derek let him or would he tell him to go to school? Derek didn't seem like the responsible one to tell him education comes first, but then again, there was a lot about Derek Stiles didn't know.

"Go learn something," Derek said as he unlocked the doors. Stiles assumed wrong.

Without question, Stiles opened the door and got out. Before he closed the door, he leaned down, catching Derek's green eyes. He said, "thanks for protecting me." He was honest. He couldn't remember if he said it before, but if he hadn't, he said it now.

Derek leaned over the passenger's seat, getting awfully close to Stiles' face. Stiles smelt an intoxicating cologne. That was odd; Derek always had an earthy and/or woods smell. Derek's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Anytime."

He was pulled out of his thoughts, only to be thrown back in them. Stiles, numb, closed the door and stood stunned as Derek drove away. He said "anytime." He didn't mind protecting him. Stiles' heart fluttered. He made his way, shuffling, back into the school with the biggest grin on his face.

The rest of the day went by quickly. His friends continued their shifts walking him to his classes. Scott didn't walk him. Surprisingly when he thought Scott was going to walk him, since they had the class together, Ruby was waiting for him outside the room.

She walked him to his final class, gym. A class he had with Scott. She talked about the algebra assignment they had due tomorrow. Stiles nodded and said "yeah" here and there, to make it looked like they were having a conversation. She knew they weren't.

She turned to Stiles and hugged him tight before walking away from him when they arrived at the locker room. Even she wasn't confident that their friendship would get passed this lie, but it showed to him, that she wanted it work. He felt her hope.

He staggered his way into the locker room, thinking about Ruby and what he was going to do about their friendship. She genuinely seemed to regret lying to him. Was regret worth forgiveness? Her lie almost cost him his life. He didn't have time to think about this. Derek was nice to him today. He wasn't going to let anything ruin his happy feeling.

He got undress and went into the gymnasium. Scott didn't speak to him. He appeared irritated. Stiles thought it was probably because Scott didn't like that Stiles got into a car with Derek and took off. If that was why, Stiles was just going to keep his distance. He was still on the cloud of happiness. His day was going good. He didn't want it to end, not just yet. Thankfully today, it was a physical test day in gym. They had to rock climb.

Stiles stood at the end of the second line while Scott and Jackson were in front with Lydia, getting ready to go against each other. Erica crossed Stiles' mind. He remembered when she was an awkward normal girl who got seizures and now she was a missing teen she wolf. He missed her.

Flashes of Erica and Boyd tied up in some basement and being electrocuted, tortured. It made him sick. What if that was their last day alive and they spent it being broken apart? He shook his head. It couldn't risk killing the happy feeling.

He just spent the rest of class, thinking of the all mighty Derek. He kept repeating the conversation he had with him in his head. It kept all the negatives out of his mind.

Gym class ended. He took his time returning to the locker room. School was over and now he had to talk to Ruby. By the time he got to his locker and opened it, most of the guys were almost done changing.

Scott sat on the bench next to Stiles, tapping his foot impatiently. It was obvious he was bothered about something, but Stiles honestly didn't care at the moment. He had bigger things to do with first. Scott had pushed him aside when Isaac came along.

Stiles understood why they had bonded so well and easily. They were werewolves. Isaac knew exactly what Scott struggles were. He wasn't jealous about that. He was jealous because Scott always went to Isaac nowadays. He felt replaced.

Tired of waiting, Scott blurted out what was on his mind. "So why have you been dodging me?" Stiles pulled his shirt down over his head and slipped his arms in.

Dodging him? How? The past week they were almost always around each other like they always were. Only difference was they weren't alone. "Dodging you implies you actually making an effort to hang with me." He closed his locker, grabbed his book bag, and walked away.

Scott wasn't giving up. He followed after Stiles. "Hey," he said as he grabbed Stiles' arm, stopping. "Why are you buddy-buddy with Derek? Does he have something over you?" He asked what really was on his mind.

_Nothing other than being my mate, _Stiles thought. He returned the question to Scott, letting jealously cling on his words. "Why are you buddy-buddy with Isaac?"

"Stop dodging the question," Scott said, letting an irritated growl escape.

"Well I'd prefer to lie to you, but that's not going to happen." He lifted his hand and flicked Scott's ear hard. "On that note, I really miss your normal human days." It wasn't really about the fact he couldn't lie; he just didn't feel comfortable talking about how Derek and he were mates with Scott. Especially since Scott and Derek were obvious rival.

Scott's eyes flashed amber and he stepped up to Stiles, challenging him. Stiles flinched for a second, but he remembered he was protected. He stood his ground and then, Scott cringed. Stiles smiled. "Ruby is waiting for me." And with that, Stiles turned around and walked out of the locker room.

Stiles power walked to his locker. Scott frustrated him. Ruby was already there, waiting for him. She said hello; he didn't say anything. She could tell he was frustrated. Everyone could tell. After he switched out his books, he said to Ruby, "follow me." She listened and followed him to his jeep. They got in. Stiles didn't waste time and drove out of the school parking lot.

He looked her sitting in the passenger seat. The wind blew her hair back. She sat next to him just like she had before. With Scott and his friendship unraveling, he couldn't afford to lose her as well. He decided, then, he would forgive her.

"I feel like I can't talk to anyone right now. I have friends, but Scott was my best friend and lately I feel I've been replaced." Ruby sat quietly with guilt expressed on her face. She licked her rose pedal lips, moisturizing them. "Just tell me why you lie." He gripped tight on the steering wheel.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I didn't lie about my pack being dead. James really did kill them and my alpha Carlos." Stiles saw pain in her warm brown eyes as they became glossy. He listened closely to her voice to see if he could hear any faults. "In the werewolf world, when an alpha kills another alpha, the dead alpha's betas become the 'winner's' betas. I didn't tell you this because I was afraid you wouldn't have helped me."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "And you thought keeping it from me was your better choice?" She didn't answer. She just lowered her head, feeling ashamed of her decision to keep it from him.

"I know it wasn't smart. I made a mistake." She sighed and tightened her ponytail. "Haven wants me to join her pack. That's why she's come here." She answered a question Stiles didn't ask, but wanted to.

She leaned over towards him and touched his right hand that was on the steering wheel. "Let me make this up to you. I'll do whatever you want."

Stiles glanced at her. Pain washed over her face. She was too eager to make amends. He couldn't deny it. Call him foolish, but she wanted to be with him, as friends, when his so-call best friend didn't.

"I believe you." She sighed again and grinned a little. "And if you still want my help and Derek's help, you'll need to do something." She nodded, eager to do whatever it took to continue our help. "Come out to Derek and rest."

She pressed her lips together, thinking. "Okay. If that's what it takes." If she wanted their help that was what it was going to take.

"We're doing it right now," Stiles said right now as he pulled a u-turn. He directed his jeep to Derek's home. Ruby swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn't have much time to prepare herself.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's note: as I promised, here's another chapter and it only took me two weeks. Only one more before the finale. A heads up, Part 2 will be an "M" rating, so remember to follow me. Well enjoy!**_

Chapter 10

Stiles asked Ruby few questions about her past and eager to salvage the friendship, she answered. "I was born a werewolf and no, my family doesn't know because they aren't werewolves." He raised his untamed eyebrow. "I was adopted." She looked forward, reflecting her thoughts. All expression left her face. The emptiness she expressed reminded Stiles of Jackson. Maybe they could have a chat. _Yeah, right, _Stiles thought.

They arrived at Derek's burnt and broken down home. Ruby grabbed Stiles' hand. "Give me a second." A nervous sweat started to accumulate on her forehead. Was she having second thoughts? If that was the case, he wasn't sure this friendship wouldn't last.

Stiles furthered the question. What was she afraid of? Up until this point, she was a bad ass in his eyes and now, he wasn't so sure. Could it just be that she has been in hiding for so long, opening up to people seem like something new and frightening.

"Are you going to change your mind?" Stiles asked. He turned off the engine and put his keys in his pocket.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. "I'm not. I just need a second."

"I'll be inside." Stiles got out of his jeep and walked towards the front door. He raised his closed fist and knocked on the door twice. He waited a minute and no one came to the door.

As he raised his fist again to knock, he heard someone shout, "he's my friend!" It came from the behind the house. Stiles walked to the right side of the porch and leaped off. He landed hard on his right ankle. He growled in the back of his throat as he shook his foot. There wasn't any serious damage. The pain subsided, leaving him with a slight limp. She walked around towards the back of the house.

He saw Derek standing with his hands in his leather coat, looking very tense and annoyed. His facial muscles were flexed. Scott stood a few feet away from him. His hands were curled into fists and his veins were bulging in his forearms and neck.

Stiles saw the situation escalating. He saw Scott stepping out of his boundary and Derek attacking him.

Derek growled at Scott. He didn't like Scott and with good reason. They both shifted into wolves. Fangs elongated, thick sideburns grown out, eyes illuminated their respective color (Derek's red and Scott's amber), and claws extended, ready to attack.

Stiles didn't know how he could calm this situation. What could he do? He was only human. So he did the only thing he thought of; he moved in between them, extending his arms out, touching both of their chests. He could feel their hearts pounding, more Scott's than Derek's. Derek had bigger muscles.

"Stop. We aren't getting anywhere with you two fighting." What he said didn't reach them. Scott and Derek moved closer together, causing Stiles' arms to fold in. Fueled by their anger towards each other, they forgot that Stiles was the thing keeping them apart.

Derek growled, challenging Scott and Scott reacted by raising his hand to claw Derek. Stiles closed his eyes, bracing himself for the contact of Scott's claws. "What the?" He heard Scott say. Stiles opened his eyes and saw Ruby standing next to Scott, holding his hand in the air.

She smiled at him. Then she kicked Derek in the back of the leg, bringing him down on bended knee. She twisted Scott's arm behind his back and shoved him into a tree. Stiles heard the tree bark cracked.

Ruby kicked Scott's feet from under him. He fell on his arm and growled in pain. She turned around and ran to the nearest tree to Derek. When he rose from the ground, she leaped, pushing off the tree and tackling Derek down. She rolled over him and rose from the ground, flipping her hair to her right shoulder. She moved next to Stiles. He was in complete awe. Ruby was bad ass and he mentally took back ever questioning her bad-assness.

Derek and Scott got up. Scott walked over to Derek's side. They forgot their differences. They-still wolfed out-took long strides like closing in on their prey. Ruby.

Derek growled. "Stiles move."

"Yeah, Stiles," Scott agreed. Of course they'd agree on something that went against Stiles' idea or plan.

"No," Stiles said as he stood his ground, looking directly at Derek.

"I'm the werewolf," Ruby confessed.

Peter, Jackson, and Isaac walked over to them from behind Derek and Scott. They didn't find Erica and Boyd. "How are you hiding your scent?" Peter asked.

Ruby removed her moon stone cameo necklace and handed it to Stiles. He grabbed it. In seconds, the wolves picked up on her scent. Their eyes flashed their respective wolf color. She pointed to the necklace. "This is made from a moon stone. Ordinary to humans, but powerful for werewolves," she explained. Peter kept his eyes on the necklace. Ruby didn't like that.

"Clever girl. You took away the alpha's power source," Peter said. Ruby forced a smile, baring her teeth. "I heard legends about a moon stone being able to amplify one's power, but I didn't know it could hide someone."

Ruby crossed her arms and stared hard at Peter. She moved her hard stare to Derek, whose eyes were cast upon Stiles with disappointment. "I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I heard great things about the Hale line." She knew of them. "You seem more like uneducated turned wolves."

"We're born werewolves," Peter said. Derek just kept his stare on Stiles. Nothing else appeared to matter to him at the moment.

"Then you should have known that the moon stone isn't a legend. More _legends are real._" She glanced back at Stiles. Her glance had more meaning, far more than he could ever understand.

Stiles nudged his head for her to tell them what she told him. She stood closer to him and grabbed the necklace from his hand. She put it on. All the wolves sniffed the air. Her scent vanished. She gave herself an escape if things turned violent.

Peter clapped his hands and smiled. "Magnificent." He was impressed with her. Stiles buffed up his chest a little bit, feeling proud of his friend.

Derek finally said something. "Why are James and Haven after you? I know there's more to this story." He got straight to the point.

"James killed my alpha Carlos." Anguish surfaced in her eyes and in her voice.

Before she could continue, Peter interrupted her, "you're apart of James' pack." She lowered her head and nodded. Stiles placed his hand on her shoulder.

Her nod caused an uproar with the betas. Jackson, Scott, and-the soft spoken-Isaac protested their thoughts on not helping her and that she shouldn't be trusted.

Stiles glared at Scott. "You shouldn't be trusted." His hand slid down to Ruby's hand. He gripped it tight. Scott stood frozen by Stiles' words. They were true.

Derek growled, getting their attention back on topic. "Yes, you're correct," Ruby said. She moved her eyes to Stiles. He was her only true friend and the only person she felt comfortable telling her past. Stiles nodded his head because he understood that. She didn't mean to cause him any harm.

She took a deep breath and continued as she kept her gaze on Stiles. "Only because he killed Carlos. Stupid werewolf laws. Anyway, I don't know why he killed Carlos. That's what I've been trying to figure out. I do know he's become more desperate than ever to be asking for Haven's help and as for Haven, she wants to build a strong pack of female wolves." She moved her eyes to Derek and then to Peter.

Peter spoke, "he's on a deadline." He shared a glance with Derek. It was like they were communicating telepathically. "A full moon is approaching."

Ruby jumped a little where she stood. "I know a guy name Freddie. He's into all that full moon and ritual stuff." Derek narrowed his eyes at her. "He's an omega and he likes it that way." Derek wasn't convinced.

"How many wolves are we going against?" Derek asked.

"I don't know. When I was actually with James, he had Arez, Ian, Chris, Nick, and myself." Derek was making mental notes. "Haven had Gina, Aurora, Meleni, and Brooke." There were ten of them and they were outnumbered. Things weren't looking too bright and Stiles was becoming nervous. "I've been hiding from them for the last three months; they could have turned or found more wolves."

"Wait here," Derek said as he nudged his uncle to following him. "Watch her," he ordered the betas. Jackson looked at his phone. Scott turned his back to everyone and Isaac locked his eyes on Ruby.

Stiles turned to Ruby and whispered to her. "Don't worry. Everything will be cool." He dusted his shoulders, trying to ease the moment. Ruby forced a weak grin. The grin was short lived and it vanished underneath of layers of worries and fears.

"They're discussing whether or not to trust me," Ruby stated to Stiles in a whisper. She knew how much Stiles hated being left out. "They're talking incredibly low. I can hardly hear them."

Jackson stopped closer to her. "You can hear him?" Isaac and Scott listened in for her response. They couldn't hear Derek.

Ruby answered. "I was born a werewolf." Her back straightened out and her head raised high. She was proud of who she was. "You three were turned. The gift is deluded."

Jackson shot her a mean look as he swallowed what she said. Scott turned his head. Stiles smirked. Ruby was a better werewolf.

Derek and Peter returned. Derek looked intense as usual and Peter had a grin on his face. Could that be a good sign for Ruby? Peter did seem more excited by Ruby than anyone else.

Before Derek could deliver his judgment on the matter, Ruby made one final plea. "I'm sorry for my dishonesty and for endangering Stiles." She looked directly Derek. "I want your help. I need it. I'm tired of running."

Stiles looked at Derek, nodding his head for Derek to agree to help her. Derek kept his stare hard, revealing no faults. Stiles stared harder, trying to physically convince him. Derek and he were mates. He should be able pull some weight. "We can trust her."

"We can't afford another betrayal," Derek said roughly. The words sounded like they scratched their way out of his throat. "You want our help? Then stay away from Stiles."

Stiles jaw dropped and he stopped breathing for a second. Stiles couldn't believe what Derek was saying. He wasn't going to listen to him. "The hell she will." Derek threw his arms at his sides and flexed his muscles. He took three large steps to Stiles. He towered over him and growled loudly in Stiles' face, flashing his alpha red eyes.

Stiles fell back. He crawled back, cowering. Ruby and Scott let out a low growl, demonstrating they didn't like what Derek did. "I'm the alpha, Stiles. No beta, outsider, uncle or human will out rank me. Learn your place." Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat.

They all did.

"Stay away from Stiles, Ruby." Ruby took a deep breath and nodded. Stiles sat on the ground. He still couldn't grasp that Derek was ordering the only friend he had to stay away from him and that Ruby was agreeing to it. Once again, he was left alone.

Feeling angry, hurt, and alone, Stiles rose from the ground and growled in the back of his throat. He glared at Derek for treating him the way he did in front of everyone. He felt stupid for spending all those countless hours thinking about him. He didn't want to be anymore.

Stiles turned around to head back to his jeep. He stopped when he saw Lydia arriving behind him. She carefully walked her way to them in her high heels. She regretted wearing them.

Jackson quickly filled Lydia in on what happened. She glanced at Ruby and judged her. Then she moved her eyes to Stiles. "I told you she was no good."

Stiles was beyond upset to respond to her comment. He didn't want to hear from any of them right now. Every turn he took, it seemed they'd find a way to shut him out and of course, Lydia was in the loop. _What the hell? _Sure, she had the intellect, but he was clever and resourceful. He was even willing to put his life on the line for this pack. A pack who didn't consider him one of their own.

He stuck his hands in his pants pockets, touching his keys. He traced the ridged side as he rattled the thought of just leaving. Yes, it would be a bit dramatic, but he was hurt. In his eyes, it was justifiable to do just that.

"Whatever," he said. "Let's just start now." He took off, power walking to the front of the house. Ruby and Lydia called out his name, but he kept going. He reached his jeep when he heard a growl and felt it on the nape of his neck. A chill surged down his back, tensing up his body. _Derek, _he thought. Only Derek could make him feel good and scared at the same time.

Stiles looked over his shoulder. Derek was standing only a couple feet from him. Derek lifted his left foot, about to take a step closer to him. Stiles spoke before Derek took that step. "Don't follow me." Derek put his foot back next to the other one.

Stiles got into his jeep. He didn't look up at Derek because he knew Derek was staring back at him. Derek always got under his skin and he feared if he looked at him, the hurt would subside. He started his jeep and reversed out of his spot and drove away.

The next two days passed by as a blur to Stiles. He all, but shut down to his friends. They continued to walk him to his classes. Other students noticed and began making up stories to explain why Stiles needed a babysitter.

He didn't care what others were thinking. Lydia insulted everyone that laughed, pointed, or made a comment. The guys just ignored it all together.

He did like when Isaac walked him. Only because he kept his distance. Stiles actually felt like he didn't have a babysitter. He liked it so much that he asked Isaac if he could walk him all the time. Isaac said yes.

Isaac reported it to Derek and then, relayed the message to the others, all via text messages.

As Stiles-and Isaac-walked down the hallway to his next class, he stopped when he saw Ruby. She looked at him. Pain filled her stare. She wanted to speak with him just as much as he wanted to speak with her, but Derek's order didn't allow her.

Isaac stopped next to Stiles. "Derek only said for her to stay away from you." Stiles turned to Isaac and gazed at him confused. Isaac grinned. He twisted Derek's words to benefit Stiles.

"Continue," Stiles said eager to hear what he had in mind.

Isaac shrugged his shoulders. "I could deliver a message or two for you," he said, sounding like Derek never said anything against it.

Stiles thought for a second. He wasn't sure if Isaac was serious or just amusing him. Whatever the reason was Stiles had to take it. He looked around the hallway, scouting for any of his friends. No one was near. He moved closer to Isaac and whispered, "tell her Red said 'hi.'" He didn't know what he wanted to say to her. He figured if he used the name she called him it would give her hope and let her know he missed her.

Isaac nodded and walked over to Ruby. Stiles was impressed with him. Isaac was actually acting like a rebel and all for Stiles. Maybe Isaac wasn't all that bad, aside from being a best friend stealer.

Isaac walked back casually with his hands in his pockets. Was that part of being in Derek's pack: sticking your hands in your pockets? Stiles thought. Isaac came back to him and pushed him along. "She said." He paused. "_Beso_."

Stiles pulled out his phone and googled the word. The word "kiss" came up. She meant the kiss they shared. When he got to his classroom, Isaac and he said bye and Stiles found his seat. After he took out his notebook for class (a class he had completely forgotten about), he gazed at the floor, zoning out of the room. His fingers made their way to his lips and caressed them as he reminisced about their kiss.

It was only for a second; the kiss-he thought-Derek and he shared surfaced. Stiles shut his eyes tight, trying to push it out of his head. He tried thinking of other things like food, lacrosse, homework, Ruby, Lydia, Isaac, Erica, Boyd, Jackson, and Scott, but none of it worked. Derek and his body kept breaking through. Derek was like an earthquake, no way of predicting when it'll strike or avoiding it. Yeah, that was Derek, always showing up unexpectedly and Stiles couldn't avoid him now that they were mates.

_Mates. _Stiles supposed that was part of the deal. Never really be separated from each other. He just wished Derek was more understanding, not so uptight. Would it kill him to listen to Stiles? It probably would.

The more he thought about Derek, the less aggravated with him and his decisions. After two days, he finally felt a smile on his face and Derek being the cause of it didn't surprise him in the least. He was actually happy Derek made him smile. It made all the aggravation, he felt a moment ago, go away.

He spent the rest of the class, thinking about Derek. Class ended and he put his notebook in his book bag. He got up from his seat and exited the class. Isaac wasn't there, waiting for him. He waited a couple minutes. Perhaps Isaac was running late.

The students were filing into their classes and Isaac wasn't in sight. He found that very odd since Isaac always managed to be outside his classroom before he stepped pass the door.

Stiles headed down the hallway to his locker. The bell rang. The next period began and he was late. He walked pass the guy's bathroom door and as he was coming up to the girl's bathroom, he heard crying come from inside. He looked around him. The hallway was empty and silent.

His compassionate nature kicked in. He knocked on the door. He was respectful. He opened it a little and said, "hello. Is everything alright? I heard crying." No one answered, but the weeping sound continued. He entered. "Hello?" There was still no answer.

He walked to the five stalls at the back of the bathroom. Only one of them was closed. He stopped in front of it and softly knocked on it. "Go away," a girl said. She sounded terrified and that only compelled Stiles to stay.

"I'm Stiles," he said compassionately, trying to befriend the girl. He looked back at the door. He was in the girl's bathroom and if another girl or worse a teacher came in, he would be in trouble. "Look, I can't be in here. Are you okay?"

A soft laugh came from behind the stall door. Stiles stepped back as the door opened. A brunette girl with light brown eyes and freckles on her rosy cheeks stepped out. She was athletically built.

She lifted her hand and Stiles reacted, turning around and ran towards the door. He came to a halt when the door opened and the alpha Haven came inside. She smiled at him. "It's a pleasure to see you again." She moved her eyes behind him. "Excellent work, Brooke, Aurora."

Stiles looked over his shoulder and saw another girl come out from one of the other stalls. She had short black hair with green stripes. She was built like the brunette. She looked at the brunette. "Nice job, Brooke. I was even convinced you were terrified."

Stiles edged himself to the nearest wall. His heart raced. He was in a room with three werewolves. "Let me play with him, Haven," Aurora said. She seductively walked up to him. Stiles pinned himself up against the wall and looked away from her. He was scared. He could feel the tremble start in his legs and move up his body.

Aurora placed her right hand on the wall, inches away from his face. "Don't be afraid," she said with a wicked twist in her voice.

Stiles opened his eyes and saw Aurora's bloody hand. He jumped back. "Where is Isaac?" He asked.

Aurora laughed. "He's alive," Haven said, staring fiercely at Aurora. She back away from Stiles. She nodded and returned to Brooke's side.

Haven walked up to Stiles. "No one will get hurt as long as you follow my instructions." Stiles nervously nodded. "Follow me and keep quiet." She walked to the door. Aurora and Brooke each grabbed one of his arms and pushed him out of the bathroom.

**p.s. Happy Birthday to ME!**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Author's note: Only one more chapter to go. This is a total lead in and I hope you enjoy it. To get a feel for this chapter, listen to "Take Care Of My Baby" by Dum Dum Girls when you get to the car ride part and "I Follow Rivers" by Lykke Li when Derek and Ruby arrive at the Trinity River. **_

_**One last thing, I want to wish my good friend Hezzy76 a Happy Birthday. You're awesome. **_

**Chapter 11**

*Derek's POV*

Derek jumped up and grabbed the wooden frame to the archway. He hung in the air for a moment before starting his pull up reps. He reached a hundred in no time. Sweat had begun rolling down his muscular back, chest, and abs. He continued until he reached five hundred. He swung his legs back and let himself fall into push up position on the floor.

He heard a squeak come from the porch in the front. He pushed himself up to his feet. He walked over to the loveseat covered in a white sheet and grabbed his black t-shirt. "Shouldn't you be in school, Ruby?" He said as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

He turned to face her. He saw the worry suck the color from her face. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Stiles. He knew it. "Haven took Stiles," Ruby mumbled.

He rushed her, grabbed her by the neck, throwing her against the wall next to the stairs and holding her there. His claws grew out and pierced her neck. He growled into her ear, "and you let them take my…" He growled. "Him."

Ruby felt responsible for what happened. She didn't fight Derek. Haven only took Stiles to get to her. "I was only doing what you ordered." She explained why it happened.

Though to him, it was like she was throwing it in his face and that didn't sit well with him. He tightened his grip on his neck and then, released her. Ruby stepped away from him. She lifted her hand and touched her neck. She winced when her fingers touched the wounds left from Derek's claws.

"Really?" She asked a rhetorical question. She looked at the blood on her hand. Wounds from an alpha didn't heal right away. How was she supposed to hide this from everyone?

"You're going to help us find him." Derek growled an order.

She picked up his shirt from the chair next to her and ripped it. With the ripped piece, she tied it around her neck like a scarf. "That goes without saying." She accepted full responsibility.

"Then it should go without saying if anything happens to Stiles." She interrupted him. "I know." She didn't have to say it or hear it to know that her life was on the line. For Stiles, she'd give her life.

"Where could they have taken him?" Derek asked as he pulled out his phone and text messaged his pack, including Scott and Lydia.

Ruby sat down on the chair where she grabbed Derek's shirt from. "I don't know." She repeated her answer from the other day.

Derek walked into the living room and picked up his button up black plaid shirt. He aggressively put it on and buttoned the shirt. He couldn't believe his mate was taken. _His mate. _The words brought back that worried feeling like the night they first encountered James. Images of Stiles bruised and physically dried from running flashed in his head; it caused his chest to cramp. His squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to push the thought out of his head.

It took him a minute, but he finally got it to go away. He needed to stay focus on getting back his mate. He put on his leather coat and straightened up, pushing down his emotions.

"How did you get here?" Derek asked. Thought his mind kept going back to what was important: Stiles.

"After I found Isaac unconscious in the girl's bathroom, I followed Stiles scent to the parking lot. His scent vanished and where I stood, I found a key." She pulled out the key. Derek put the two together. Stiles dropped his key so that one of his werewolf friends would find it and hide his jeep. "It was a clever move for him."

Derek narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't like the way she sounded when she said that. He knew Stiles was clever. "Of course, he is." He said as-matter-of-fact.

"Why don't you tell him that?" Ruby asked, jumping off the task at hand, saving Stiles. She wanted to know mainly so she could tell Stiles herself, since Derek obviously refused to do so.

"Have you met Stiles? You can't tell him things like that; he'll only get a big head and he'll want to help more." Derek's eyes flashed red and not because he was trying to intimidate her. The image of Stiles being taken and beaten up by Gerard the night of their championship lacrosse game resurfaced. The cramping feeling strengthened in his chest. He needed to find Stiles.

He walked out of the house; Ruby followed behind her like a loyal pup. Derek's pack arrived. Ruby told Derek she told them to meet here. The loyal Isaac moved to Derek's side. His uncle Peter came out from behind the trees and leaned on one. Jackson, with Lydia holding onto his arm, stood the furthest from everyone. Lydia glared at Ruby.

Scott walked up to Derek and Ruby. "What are we going to do?" He tried to hide the tremble in his voice. He was overwhelmingly worried.

"First we need a cover story for the Sheriff," Peter stated.

Ruby pulled out Stiles' phone. "Already done. Sheriff Stilinski is working a double shift today. I sent him a message that we"-she pointed at herself and then to Scott-"were going hiking today."

Derek stood by and waited to hear her entire plan. The first part sounded good to him. Scott on the other hand wasn't as patient. "That's not believable," he said as he growled at Ruby, standing up to her. If he didn't believe it, he knew the Sheriff wouldn't fall for it.

"Of course not, genius. The plan was to get the Sheriff thinking Stiles was up to something rather than missing." Ruby growled back at Scott and pushed him down. Jackson and Isaac moved in front of her, ready to attack. Lydia walked to Scott and helped him up. He didn't need her help.

Peter was at Ruby's side. Derek growled. Isaac backed down. Jackson stood his ground, still glaring at Ruby, but he shifted back. Scott did exactly the same as Jackson. "You said you had a friend that knew about rituals." Derek stated as he walked up to Ruby. She nodded. "Do you trust him?"

Ruby turned around, breaking her stare from Jackson and Scott and asking Derek the better question, "do you trust me?"

Derek glanced at everyone around him. They shook their heads "no." Except for Peter, he was grinning. Derek flexed his jaw muscles. What choice did he really have? "I don't have a choice, but to trust you." A low noise escaped Scott's tight lip. "Take me to this friend."

Derek looked at his beta. His uncle. "Make sure they're prepared," he gave an order.

Ruby jogged to Stiles' jeep and pulled out a book bag from the window. She jogged over to Derek's Camaro and got inside the passenger's seat. Derek got in and turned the car on. He looked at Ruby and then moved his eyes to the bag. "It's going to be a long ride. So I brought food."

Derek shook his head. He looked at his pack as he reserved out of his spot. He didn't like that he was leaving his pack in a time when they were on alert. Erica and Boyd left. No one has heard from them and it was his entire fault. Despite that, he did take some comfort knowing he was leaving his pack in the capable hands of his uncle.

When the car was turned around, he ripped his eyes away from the youngsters. They were the closest thing to a family he had. He flexed his jaw muscles and pushed down all the terrible thoughts that tried to surface. He focused on the thing that calmed him in ways he, himself, was still trying to figure out, Stiles.

"Where are we headed?" Derek asked, though it sounded more like a demand. Focusing on Stiles, right now, in his current situation, was making it hard for him to stay calm. To be honest with himself, he didn't care how he sounded to her. She didn't care either.

She answered him, nonchalantly, "head north. We're going to Trinity River." Derek knew exactly where that was. His-now deceased-family went camping there a couple times.

The full moon was tonight and it was a two hour drive. Time was against them. Derek growled; he didn't like that. "Put your seatbelt on." He gave her a warning.

He turned onto the highway and took off. Ruby's body pressed back, hard against the seat. They were off…

…An hour into their fast trip, Ruby became bored. So she asked questions as she pulled out a sandwich from her book bag. "So why did you pair up with Stiles?" She removed the wrapping the sandwich and took a bite out of it. Derek didn't answer. "I know he's your mate." She leaned back in the seat and took another bite.

Derek kept his eyes on the road. He did glance at her from the corner of his eye for a quick nanosecond. Who did she think she was? Asking him a question about his personal life. It was none of her business as to why he chose to mate with Stiles.

When Derek still didn't answer, Ruby continued, "I know you care about him." The words lodged themselves in his ears, echoing in them. Derek gripped the steering wheel tighter. He didn't want to talk about it with her. "He cares about you." Derek already knew that fact. It was obvious.

As much as Derek would love to shut Ruby up, she wasn't going to stop. He knew it. It was like she had this planned out already and he was foolish enough to have fallen for it.

"So why did you choose to mate with Stiles?" She handed him a sandwich. He just stared forward on the road. "I get that you want to protect him. You could have gone a different route like give him the bite."

She spoke to him of the other opinion as if the thought didn't cross his mind. It did and he thought about it. He just couldn't give him the bite. The bite was a 50/50 chance. It would either turn Stiles into a werewolf or kill him and Stiles dying was not an option.

"I can't take the risk." He regretted saying the words, not because he said them, but because he said them to the wrong person. He knew he should have told Stiles how he felt days ago. He had plenty of opportunities to say it, to confess his feelings. Tell Stiles how the night when Jackson, the kanima, trapped them in the pool and Stiles kept him above water. Yes, Stiles let him fall underneath to get his phone, but he came back for him. From that moment, a spark lit inside Derek. He looked at Stiles differently, in a passionate way.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter as anger filled him. "I don't want to talk." The more he talked or thought about how he felt about Stiles the angrier he became. He didn't know what James and Haven had planned for him and the worse thought possible came to mind. Stiles would be killed.

"So how did you meet this friend?" Derek asked, moving on to a less temperamental subject.

"Freddie. Carlos introduced me to him." He heard the unsteady heart beat coming from her. She wasn't lying; she was heartbroken. They were close. They were _together_. "He helped me escape from James. He's the one that told me about the moonstone and what it could do."

Ruby paused as she glanced out the window. "Pull into this side road." Derek took a sharp turn. "Keep going until we reach a dead end."

"Trinity River is like a mile away."

"To find Freddie, we have to follow the river." She nudged her head. Derek reminded himself that he had to trust her. He drove on the road that quickly became an unpaved road and went into the woods. "Trinity River starts off as a small stream. We'll start there."

Just as Ruby finished her sentence, the path came to a dead end. She got out of the car. Derek followed her. "So how do we find Freddie?" He asked as they walked into the woods, moving branches out of their faces. The sun was already setting.

"Well we don't find him, he finds us." She said it so nonchalantly like he was just going to pop out, saving us a lot of time. They came to a small stream. She waved him to follow her as she walked along the side of the stream.

"How will he know we're here?"

Ruby walked, crossing one foot in front of the other, switching her hips. "Say something of truth." She turned around and walked backwards, waiting to hear what Derek would say.

He narrowed his eyes at her. She knew he didn't want to talk about his feelings. She stopped and he stopped. "You're going to have to trust me, remember?"

He stuck his hands in the pockets of his leather coat. "I need to save my mate," he said through tight lips. A smile appeared on Ruby's face. She continued walking; so did Derek. He glared at her. What a nuisance she was becoming. She reminded him of Stiles, never knowing when to just let it go.

"I'm sure you feel much better now." He heard her giggle. He growled in the back of his throat.

A twig snapped; both Ruby and Derek wolfed out. They hunched down a little, preparing to attack as they searched behind the trees near them. With the sun setting a shadow cast over the land. They heard another snap. Derek growled, baring his wolf fangs. A pair of amber eyes appeared in the shadows.

Derek, being an alpha, took a step forward. Ruby took a smaller step, moving closer to Derek like she was part of his pack. Derek glanced at her with admiration. She showed a sign of loyalty. Perhaps Derek could trust her.

"I see you found a new home, Ruby," a raspy voice said. From the corner of his eye, Derek saw Ruby shift back to normal and stood up straight. She knew the person. He was Freddie.

Derek shifted back as Freddie, a medium size, both in height and muscle mass, walked towards them. His copper skin was vibrant and his brown eyes were oddly big and round. Derek noticed his was barefoot.

Ruby moved forward, meeting Freddie halfway and hugged him. "Freddie, it's been months." Freddie kept his eyes on Derek.

"You're still alive and you're with a Hale," he said, finally taking his eyes off of Derek.

Derek grew impatient. They were wasting time. "I don't have time to waste. Ruby ask him what he knows." He gave her an order.

Ruby stepped back from Freddie. "James has taken his mate." She lifted her hand and pointed her index finger at Derek. He glared at Ruby. It was no concern of Freddie to know of his mate. "And I'm certain James is using him as his bargaining chip for retrieving the moon stone." Ruby held out the cameo necklace.

Freddie smiled at Derek.

Derek popped the bones joints in his neck. He was growing frustrated.

Ruby continued, "we think he might be trying to perform a ritual on tonight's full moon."

"The Seed Moon," Freddie said, thoughtfully.

_The growing moon, _Derek thought. He knew what James was trying to do. He wanted to perform a ritual that will steal the power of the moon stone. "Stop!" He growled at Ruby and her friend Freddie. They became silent. Derek's brain continued to put things together. He was at the Trinity River. _Alpha, Omega, and Beta were the holy trinity. _The Klamath Mountains were the perfect place to perform the ritual.

"Ruby, James and Haven are in the mountains," he said with urgency. Ruby whipped her head to the left, where the Klamath Mountains reside, so fast; Derek thought he was going to feel dizzy. "James is going to steal the moonstone's power and he's going to use the holy trinity to do the ritual. All he'll need is an Omega."

Ruby looked at Freddie. "You mustn't join us. We can't give him what he wants."

Derek pulled out his phone. He called his uncle Peter. It only rang twice and Peter answered. Derek didn't let him say a word; he quickly spoke, "bring everyone to the Trinity River. It's an emergency. Call me when you're close."


	12. Chapter 12

_** Author's note: Okay readers, here is the finale. I want to thank everyone of you that followed me on this journey of **_**The Attraction. **_**You all are awesome. I really do appreciate the reviews, PMs, follows, and favorites. I really hope you enjoy this final chapter. I want to give a special thanks to A and H. You two gave me things to think about during my writing process. I appreciate your feedback and help. **_

**Music: the battle at the end, listen to Greyhound by Swedish House Mafia. Stiles in water, listen to Dead In The Water by Ellie Goulding. The final scene, listen to Don't Say A Word by Ellie Goulding. (Ellie Goulding's music was a major inspiration for this part)**

**Chapter 12**

Stiles stood, tied up against the cave wall. Haven held a beaten Derek up on his knees. There was about a dozen other werewolves standing around them as witnesses to what was about to happen. He could only make out a few: Arez, Brooke, and Aurora. The rest appeared as blurs to him. He looked around on the floor; his friends laid on the ground, unconscious and bloody. The panic was on overdrive. They were out numbered. Their defeat was a given.

A dark shadow stood in front of Derek. The shadow turned his shadowy head, locking its' red glowing eyes on Stiles. He felt so terrified; he looked away.

Someone walked over to him. It was Arez. "You have to watch." He grabbed Stiles by his chin and turned his head back towards the group, focusing him to watch.

Derek and Stiles made eye contact. He saw the terror in Derek's eyes. "Let him go!" Stiles shouted. Arez laughed at him. The shadow tilted its' head back and laughed, menacingly loud like as if Stiles had said the funniest joke in the world. Stiles tried fighting out of Arez's grip. It was a failed attempt. Arez was werewolf strong and even without a supernatural advantage, Arez did out strength him. Stiles knew that, but this was Derek's life on the line. He had to try something.

Stiles moved his head down and bit into Arez's hand, piercing skin. Arez growled and smacked Stiles. Arez held him up by his arms like Haven was holding Derek.

The shadow gripped Derek's neck and dug its' claws into his neck. Stiles screamed as he felt something pierce the back of his neck. He closed his eyes as they dug deeper into his neck. When he felt the nail-like claws scrape his vertebrae; his eyes opened. All what he saw before he closed his eyes was gone. He laid on the ground, still tied up.

A large werewolf hovered over him with it's' claws still piercing his skin. It removed its' claws from his neck. Stiles knew the werewolf was the Alpha James. He looked around the cave Haven brought him to; it was empty.

His face was dipping with sweat and he heart was still racing. James attacking Derek was an illusion brought on by James. Did all alphas have the ability to put thoughts into others' minds?

The alpha James shifted back into a human. "Neat trick, huh?" He asked, standing in front of Stiles, completely naked. He was a tall black man, muscular, of course, but he didn't hold a candle to Derek and his sexual allure. Stiles knew, at that point, no one ever would. "Stiles, is it?"

Stiles looked away. It was hard for him to look at James while his business hung there a couple feet from him. "I'm so rude. My name is James." James extended his hand out to Stiles. He looked at his hand in thought, and then laughed. "Oh I forgot, you're tied up."

He reached down and grabbed Stiles' neck, digging his claws back into his neck. Stiles held himself together, not wanting to come off as scared as he felt underneath. James pulled Stiles up and sniffed the air around the small placed where Stiles' scent would be lingering. "The alpha marked you," he stated. He didn't seem effected by that fact.

James let go of Stiles' neck and grabbed the rope that was restricting Stiles from moving. He sat Stiles up and pushed him against the cave wall. At that moment, Arez came out from behind a large rock. He walked towards James and Stiles with poise, like he was walking down a runway. He moved to Stiles side and sat down next to him. "We should rough him up a tad. So when his friends come, they'll see we mean business," Arez suggested.

James smiled and Stiles knew with that smile; Arez got the okay. Arez raised his hand in front of Stiles' face, stretching out his fingers. His perfectly manicured nails grew out into claws. He gently placed his hand around Stiles' chin. "I have a soft spot for vanity. So I won't mess with that face of yours." He paused. "Too much." He moved his index and middle fingers up the right side of Stiles' face. He brought his fingers down, digging his nails into Stiles' skin.

Stiles screamed in pain. It felt like knives cutting him. Heat rushed to face and slowly moved down his face. It wasn't until Arez moved his hand in his field of vision; he realized the heat, he felt, was actually his blood.

"What are you doing?" Haven yelled harshly, growling almost. She took large strides towards them, bumping into James' shoulder. She grabbed Arez by his arm. She wolfed out, alpha red eyes and all, and threw Arez back. He whipped back several feet like a rag doll. Unfortunately, he landed gracefully on his feet. He adjusted his coat.

Haven turned her attention to James and growled in his face. "I told you 'my way.'" She stepped up to him. His eyes turned red. She didn't step down. Stiles had wondered, when he willingly went with Haven and her pack, who was the strongest?

Arez snorted. "We have this under control."

Haven and James didn't unlock their gazes. "I also told you Chris would be a better Beta for you." James stare hardened to a glare. He didn't like how she undermined his decision.

Neither did Arez. "I am."

She interrupted him. "Shut your mouth." She said, keeping her stare with James. Stiles actually found joy in the way she spoke to them. "I promised you Meleni. Don't make me go back on my…arrangement."

Haven's words got into Arez. He slowly back away and finally left. That left Stiles with Haven and the alpha that wanted to-possibly-kill him. "I'm the alpha," James growled.

Haven smiled and raised her hands, slowly placing them on his chest. "James." She scratched his bare skin and pushed him back. "You're _an _alpha, not _the _alpha." James grounded his teeth together, for a long minute before he walked away.

Haven rotated her shoulders and took a deep breath. She turned around to Stiles. She sat down in front of him, folding her legs.

Stiles pushed himself against the wall. He was scared and he thought she was going to harm him like James did. Haven promised him no harm would come to him, but she was the villain and how would he know if she'd keep her word.

Haven reached forward and turned Stiles' head to her right, getting a clearer view of his wound. Stiles tensed up when she touched him. Haven wasn't pleased. She growled and a moment later, a curvy, faired skin girl with puffing blonde hair walked towards them. The blonde carried a few cloths and a bottle of peroxide. When she reached them, she handed the cloths and peroxide to Haven and walked away. "Thank you, Meleni." She was the one promised to Arez.

Stiles looked behind Haven at Meleni. She, at the same time, glanced over her shoulder at Stiles and flashed him a grin. Haven and her pack were nice, compared to James and his.

Haven poured peroxide on the cloth. She leaned forward and gently padded Stiles' wound. He winced in pain. "Sorry for what James allowed to happen." Stiles stared at her, trying to read her tells. "I could heal this would for you if you let me." She said as she continued to clean up the blood.

Stiles cleared his throat. "I already belong to someone else," he stated, finding his voice. He was Derek's mate and he wanted it to stay that way.

Haven smiled and silently laughed to herself, shaking her head. "What your alpha did was _mark _you." She poured peroxide on the second cloth and patted his cheek. "You have yet to be mated."

"Mated?" Stiles mused.

"Yes, mated. You're marked as a potential mate. You must have sex to seal the deal." Stiles heart rate sky rocketed. He knew Haven heard it, but he didn't care. His mind was too wrapped around the idea of having sex with Derek.

He completely forgot the deadly situation he was in. Derek wasn't his mate, not for real and not in the eyes of the werewolves. Suddenly, he felt down. Derek didn't make it official. Was that because he didn't know? Or did he pretend to mate with him to throw off their enemies?

Stiles bit his lip as he looked away, staring at the ground. "I can mate with you and heal you," she said casually, like she was speaking to a friend.

Stiles met her stare. She was serious and he couldn't understand why she would want to help him. "Why would you want to do that?"

She wiped his face one more time before tossing the cloths on the ground. "Because I only hurt those who cross me." She was a woman of principles. "If you stay out of my way, no harm will come to you."

"I can mark and mate with you, to save you," she suggested. He hardened his stare on her. She couldn't be serious. "It's a simple process and you won't feel a thing. All you have to do is accept it."

Haven's word threw him off. She was offering him protection and sex. Stiles spoke, quickly, sounding furious, "no." He paused, clearing his throat. He was furious. What kind of person did she think he was? A person that would do anything to save his own ass. He was not the one to do that, but he had to hide his fury.

Haven wouldn't harm him as long as he didn't cross her. He made a mental note not to do that. "That wouldn't be necessary. I'm happy with Derek." His words left an unsatisfying taste in his mouth.

Haven laughed. "And that was your first lie and I didn't need my wolf hearing to figure it out." She placed her hands behind her and leaned back on them. She shook her head, tossing her long blonde hair behind her shoulders.

Behind Haven, Aurora and Brooke walked in the space were they sat, each carrying a medium size black bag with them. Their eyes were amber. Their nose and forehead were wrinkled like a scent was irritating them.

Once they disappeared behind another wall, Stiles turned his focus back to Haven. "It's not entirely a lie. I'm not unhappy with him. Yeah, sure, I'd like some things to move forward, but I'm not unhappy and that, for me, is okay." He wrinkled his brows. Why was he talking to her about Derek? He had to stop giving her information on his mate, officially or not.

"I can protect you, Stiles," she said truthfully. Why did she want to protect him? He was the thing standing in her and James' way from getting what they wanted.

"Why do you want help me?" He asked solemnly.

"Mert te különleges," she said in another language that Stiles didn't understand. He raised his eyebrow. Haven knew he didn't understand and she wanted to keep it that way for now.

As Stiles opened his mouth to ask what she had said, Haven's eyes illuminated red. Her face hardened as she rose from the ground. She lifted Stiles up. "Don't try a stupid move," she warned him as she threw him over her shoulder and carried him further into the cave.

Stiles knew Derek and his friends were closing in on them. What James and Haven wanted; they were about to get it.

Haven carried him to the place where Aurora and Brooke went. The "room" was the like the one he was in before, but with a hole in the ground. It was filled with water. Haven walked around the hole to the opposite and handed him off to Brooke.

Brooke grabbed Stiles and scooted him to the wall. Aurora smiled at him while holding a rope in her hands. Stiles didn't like her smile. Brooke put tape over his mouth as Aurora tied the rope to the rope that bound his waist and ankles. Aurora pulled the rope, from the other side, down, drawing up Stiles' arms and lifting him up in the air. He grabbed onto the rope as he hung over the water.

Stiles grunted. Even though he was holding onto the rope, he could feel the rope slowly singeing his wrists.

Brooke and Aurora hid behind boulders. Haven stood in front of Stiles. She pulled her hair back into a pony tail. She removed her leather coat, dropping it on the ground. She reminded him of Sonya Blade from the first Mortal Kombat movie.

Derek, as usual, found them first. He was all wolfed out with his eyes blazing red. He locked gazes with Stiles. His lip twitched in rage. He moved his gaze to Haven and hunched forward. She stood upright, not phased by Derek.

He growled and dashed forward with his claws out. He was quick, reaching Haven in seconds. He leaped in the air and came down towards her. Haven extended her arm and caught Derek by his neck. She growled at him in his face. She lifted him up and slammed him into the ground with almost little to no effort.

Derek kicked Haven in the back of her legs, knocking her down on her knees. Derek growled again. Haven and Derek threw strikes and landed blows.

That was when Stiles felt the rope, he hung from, moving. He looked behind him; Ruby was cutting the rope. Brooke came up from behind her and punched her in the back. Aurora came from the other side and punched her in the gut. Stiles glanced forward at Derek and Haven. Derek was holding her off, but it was obvious she wasn't someone easily written off.

Arez and another husky white brunette male stalked their way towards Derek. Stiles tried to warn Derek by screaming, but the tape over his mouth only allowed-not so loud-grunts. The dynamic duo crossed Arez and pack member's path and tackled them.

James came out from behind a cave wall, stumbled back a few feet. He was attacked Peter and Jackson. Stiles was impressed with how Isaac and Scott and Peter and Jackson worked together. Their tactics were precise. They were actually working like a pack, all to save him. It brought a small grin to his face.

But that was short lived, he felt the rope holding him starting to break. Ruby cut through some of it and now his weight was ripping the rest. He looked around him. Ruby was closest to him.

Ruby clawed at Brooke and pushed her into the water. She screamed as she fell like there was something horrible wrong with the water. She fell under and when she came back up, her skin was burned badly. She screamed bloody murder as she struggled to reach the side. The water had wolfsbane in it. That was what the bags, Brooke and Aurora were carrying, were filled with.

Meleni came to Brooke's aid and pulled her out of the water. Haven growled and Meleni and Brooke took off.

Stiles felt the rope tearing more; he body lowered. He needed help. Soon he would fall into the water and with his wrists and ankles tied together; he wouldn't be able to swim.

Derek clawed Haven down her back. Derek turned his attention to his uncle. James had stabbed him in the chest. "Derek! Save Stiles!" Scott yelled as Arez held him down, biting into his shoulder.

Derek looked at Peter and then glanced at Stiles. Stiles wanted to tell Derek to save his uncle, because Peter was the only family he had left. The rope gave out and Stiles fell into the water. He managed to take a deep breath before going under. Once submerged, He kicked his legs in the water, trying frantically to keep himself above water. He moved his arms as well. None of it worked. Stiles found himself sinking to the bottom. He removed the tape from his mouth.

Even if he told Derek to save him; the water was mixed with wolfsbane. The werewolves' lethal enemy. Derek would probably die before reached him. Stiles' lungs began to sting, pressuring him to open his mouth for oxygen. If only he could tell his mind and body, that wouldn't be possible. Stiles thought maybe he should fight, but why? Struggling only made this moment worse. He chose to embrace his end. He closed his eyes and waited for it.

His only regret was he never got to find out what he really felt about Derek or what Derek felt about him. He never got to feel Derek's lips and feel Derek holding him like he wanted him to. He never got to experience love or sex.

As his natural survival instinct to open his mouth, he heard a splash. He opened his eyes and saw Derek swim down to him. His skin burned a bright red. His scruffy facial hair and eyebrows were burned off. Thin layers of skin patches curled off.

Stiles was in a state of shock. Derek chose him over his uncle and jumped into water mixed with Wolfsbane. He reached Stiles and pulled him upward, kicking his feet. Stiles used the last of his energy and kicked his legs back and forth. Stiles' chest burned so badly, he couldn't stop the natural reflex to open his mouth. Luckily for him, only a little got inside; they reached the top.

Derek burned and scarred, pushed, a coughing, Stiles out of the water. He managed to get himself out, but laid completely weak next to Stiles. Stiles took a moment to get the water out of his lungs before he looked around them. His friends were beat only because they were out number. It was just like in the illusion James put in his head.

A coppered tone man walked up to Stiles and looked at him with an intriguing gaze. "So you're the mate." He grinned at Stiles.

Stiles just ignored him and looked at Derek. He wasn't moving, but he was still breathing. That was a good sign. The girl Brooke grabbed Ruby by her hair and pulled her towards James.

"Freddie, bring him here." _Freddie. _Stiles heard that name before, but he couldn't quite figure it out. Freddie grabbed Derek and dragged him to James. He stopped when he was close. Derek laid on the ground. Freddie walked over a few feet behind James. Derek, Ruby, and Freddie formed a triangle with James in the center. He was holding the moon stone in his left hand.

"I trusted you!" Ruby yelled at Freddie. Aurora held Ruby's arms back. Brooke, still filled with rage, punched Ruby in the jaw.

"That was your mistake," Freddie said. He didn't show an ounce of remorse for what he did. "Soon you'll be dead. So I guess I can empty out my chew toy box." He sat down, crossing his legs, Indian style. "I set up Carlos. Your pack was eliminated because I ordered it."

"I will kill you for this. Mark my words," Ruby said with a growl as her head shook in rage. She managed to move forward a little. Aurora punched her and then held her down with Brooke. The rage in Ruby gave her strength, even when she was beaten and lost all her energy. Stiles saw the hint of worry in Freddie's eyes.

Arez walked over to Derek with a knife. Stiles finally spoke, "stop this. Please don't kill him." Arez laughed, ignoring his plea. He grabbed Derek's hand and cut his palm. Brooke did the same Ruby's hand and Freddie cut his own hand. Meleni walked to each of them and dripped their blood into a goblet. She handed it over to James.

James crushed the moon stone in his hand and dropped the pieces into the goblet. James mumbled a phrase, holding up the goblet. Ruby's, Derek's and Freddie's eyes opened wide and illuminated their wolf colors. James poured the blood and moon stone pieces on his face and chest. He dropped the goblet. The ground shook and rocks from the ceiling fell down. Whatever James wanted to accomplished, he did it.

When the shaking stopped, Ruby and Freddie collapsed. James howled, arching his head back and chest out. His howl was long. He looked at Stiles when he finished. His eyes were pitch black.

Haven rushed to James and stabbed him in the abdomen. James fell down on bended knee. Haven picked up the goblet and ordered her pack with a growl. They grabbed Ruby and took off. Haven moved to Stiles. She grabbed his hand and cut his hand. With her fingers, she wiped the remaining blood and smeared it on his cut and then on his forehead. She mumbled a different phrase then what James mumbled.

Haven looked back in the direction where James was. Stiles, still pretty confused what Haven did, looked in the same direction. James and his pack were gone. He looked around; only his friends and he remained. As he looked around, Haven disappeared. Ruby was gone. Haven had her…

…After Stiles cut himself free from the ropes and the werewolves healed, they headed back home. Defeated. Jackson, Isaac, Scott, and Stiles drove home together. Peter and Derek took off in the camaro. Jackson filled Stiles in on all that happened while Haven held him captive.

The werewolves saved Stiles, but they were unable to stop James from performing the ritual and gaining more power. Stiles kept everything that happened between Haven and him. Like how she was willing to mate with him and what she did after James completed the ritual successfully. There was so much that happened in the last several hours. He just wanted to forget it right now. That was due to the constant thoughts of Derek clouding his mind.

Jackson dropped Stiles off first. The guys searched his entire house before they left. Stiles walked up to his room, exhausted, physically and emotionally. He opened his door to his room and standing by the window, he found Derek waiting for him. It, now, made sense to Stiles why his friends left him alone without him having to give a fight. It was because Derek was here.

Derek's act rushed his mind. He wanted to think him for saving him and he wanted to stop this game of cat and mouse. He was going to figure out what was going on with them, whether it killed him or not. Whether Derek killed him or not.

Stiles, in complete desperation to understand this feeling, rushed to Derek, grabbed his shirt by the collar and pulled him down towards him. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips as he tilted his head up, kissing Derek. In a state of-what Stiles assumed was-shock, Derek lips didn't move. They stayed cold and hard like stone.

But that didn't matter to Stiles; all that did was the fluttering his heart did when their lisp connected and that Derek didn't reject his kiss by pushing him back. Stiles justified Derek's lack of a reaction as legit. He surprised Derek; so how could he expect a positive outcome. When a negative one didn't come, he was satisfied.

He continued to kiss Derek, and eventually, when he realized the neutral reaction was just as bad as a negative one because it wasn't the one he hoped, dreamed for, he stopped.

Stiles pulled away from Derek, letting go of his shirt. He slumped his head and shoulders as he turned around, walking to his bed, defeated. He sat down. This was the worse he's ever felt in his life. No, when he lost his mother, that was the worse. This, here, was the second.

A gust of wind came into his room, from the open window Derek used to enter. He looked up and, as usual, Derek was gone. Stiles grimaced and let his body fall back on his bed. A pressure built in his chest. He felt a mixture of things and he wasn't sure how to deal with it. One part of him wanted to hit something; another wanted to chase down Derek and try to make him feel what he was feeling, emotionally and then another just wanted to cry.

He turned his head to the left. His eyes connected with red ones. Derek didn't leave. He sat behind him and laid down next to him. When he went to speak, Derek stopped him with his lips by pressing them against Stiles'. His lips were soft, warm, and inviting. He was the complete opposite from a minute ago.

Stiles, being the hormonal teen, broke away, but only for a second. He flipped himself around, standing on his knees. He pulled Derek up and interesting enough, Derek came willingly. They reconnected their lips. Stiles placed his hand on Derek's chest and caressed it, feeling his perfectly cut muscles.

"Stiles," Derek said.

Stiles pressed his forehead against Derek's and moved his lips back about an inch. Every time Derek spoke when they had an intimate moment; he would kill it. This moment was about figuring out what he felt for Derek and he couldn't let him ruin it. He needed to know what he felt and if everything he thought was real. If Derek did care for him.

Stiles slid his hands down and placed them into Derek's. "Don't say a word," he said in a firm tone, giving a direct order. Derek gave into Stiles.

Stiles felt the same warmth he felt when Derek got into bed with him at the hospital. It was like a raging fire in his hands where their skin touched. Derek pushed his lips in, smashing his with Stiles'. The warmth spread throughout his body from his hands and from his lips. The hormones went into overdrive as the blood circulation picked up, pumping testosterone to every inch of his body.

Stiles pulled Derek's shirt over his head and removed his own. He pushed Derek down on the bed and got on top of him. He leaned down and started kissing him as if the world was ending in two minutes. Derek grabbed Stiles' back, pushing him into his body. He aggressively ran his hands up and down Stiles' back.

This frenzy kicked on. They struggled to breathe as their kisses grew. Stiles felt completely calm. The euphoric feeling he felt from Derek's lips was everlasting. He didn't want this to stop. He felt at home. He felt Derek's yearning for him. He was wanted. Derek wanted him.

The conclusion took his breath away. He broke away, still keeping his eyes on Derek. He, too, was overwhelmed. His chest would fully expand with every intake of air.

Derek sat up, grabbed him and held him tight. Stiles knew something wasn't right. "Stiles," Derek said in a rough tone. His tone pierced Stiles' skin like needles. He recoiled from Derek and what hurt him more than Derek's tone was how Derek didn't fight to keep him close. "This can't happen, again, ever." Stiles felt the needles on his face again. He took a deep breath and released it with a tremble.

Frustrated and not wanting to go further with the feeling of no control over the situation, Stiles moved away from Derek and lashed back. "Then why did you let it happen? Why did you come here?" He walked back and forth. Derek put his shirt back on and stood up. Stiles pushed him back; he tried and failed. "You are not going to _Edward Cullen _my ass and tell me 'we don't work' or that you're leaving town."

"No," Derek said, looking down at Stiles' feet like a child in trouble.

Stiles knew what he was about to say. Derek had come to reject him, but he wasn't going to be rejected. He was going to beat Derek to the punch. "You're not rejecting me…because." He paused and looked around the room. "Because I'm going to reject you. Yeah." He didn't give himself time to think. "Yeah, that's what I'm doing." He marched over to his window. "Leave!" He pointed at it.

Derek exhaled through his nose and walked to the window. He stopped and stared at Stiles. When Stiles didn't speak, Derek went all wolf and leaped out of the window.

Stiles returned to his bed and buried his head into his pillow. He screamed into it. No matter what he said or how he wanted Derek to believe his words; he didn't change the fact that he felt _rejected. _

_**Again, I hope you enjoyed this. I'm pretty sure you figured out that this is the end of the story. There is more to come. Part 2 will have a "M" rating. I will be taking a break from Sterek. I have committed myself to other projects and I will be working on those for a while, but no worries, I will not forget this. Expect chapter 1 of Part 2: The Rejection to be posted around the time of Teen Wolf's season three premiere. **_

_**Thank you all very much for reading this. **_

_** -L**_


End file.
